Fantasy Fifteen
by The Last Riddle
Summary: Life's normal for Steph. Her apartment gets ransacked, her car is blown up and Ranger is mysterious. Steph finds a note she wrote to herself twenty years before reminding her of whats important and she reevaluates life. Babe, but Cupcake friendly.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.**

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**When you were a kid, did you ever dream of what your future would be like? You know the dream wedding, the dream husband, the dream house. The whole shebang. You know what I mean? Well, while my sister Valerie was doing all that and acting it out with Barbies, I was dreaming of saving the world. Not like in a Go Green, Let's Recycle kinda way but in an Intergalactic Princess, superhero kinda way. I didn't care that most super heroes were men, I was one.**

**I wasn't just a little sidekick like Bat Girl or whatever her face was, I was Wonder Woman. I was Princess Leia. Heck, a couple of times I was probably Catwoman. She was pretty kick ass, huh? I never wondered who my Han Solo was going to be, I just knew that he would eventually find me. Besides, Princess Leia was way too busy to worry about her future husband. She just was. I mean, its all going to work out anyway, right? Why not have some fun first?**

**Well, Valerie grew up and put her plans to work. She got her dream wedding and her dream husband and her dream house. She got her 2.5 kids and a white picket fence out in California. Mom was so proud. And what was I? I was the disappointment. I was the one who was rushed to the hospital with a broken arm when I wanted to learn to fly off the garage. I chose to go to college instead of get married. I was always the one who didn't fit the 'burg life.**

**The 'burg is also known as Chambersburg, a big neighborhood in Trenton, New Jersey. Not a bad place to grow up. It's like a small town in the middle of the city. It's safe, it's familiar and some things are just expected. Men go to work, support their nice, normal families for twenty or so years until everyone is out of the house then they retire. Women are expected to marry respectably, pop out a bunch of nice, Italian babies and keep their homes tidy. And the world keeps spinning.**

**Well, the expectations caught up with me. I mean, Val was happy, right? And mom was so proud of her. I finally gave in and married a nice lawyer named Dickie. Maybe that should have been my first warning. It was a wedding that should have been the talk of the 'burg for years to come. The entire 'burg was there, it was enormous. It seemed so perfect and I got washed away into it. I forgot the little girl who dreamed of being an Intergalactic Princess and I forgot my child's self assurance that my Han Solo would just come to me. I was supposed to be happy and mom was finally proud of me.**

**All that ended when I came home to find my brand new husband doing the nasty, and I do mean nasty, with that slut Joyce Barnhart on my brand new dining room table. The ink was still wet on our marriage license. It became the divorce of the century.**

**My name is Stephanie Plum and I am a fugitive apprehension agent, commonly known as a bounty hunter. I kind of fell in to this line of work. Okay, I blackmailed my cousin Vinnie into giving me a job when I was desperate for cash. I'm not quite a superhero but I'm working on it.**

**I have two incredible men in my life. The first is Joe Morelli. He was always trouble, but in a good way. When I was six and he was eight, he snuck me into the dirty, old garage behind his house to teach me Choo-choo. I asked him when it was my turn to be the train when he had his head stuck up in my skirt. Mom always warned me about being around Morelli. That shows you something about my curiosity and about how much I listen to my mom. Morelli was my teenage crush, trust me, I was not alone there and he was the first one to, you know. He came into the Tasty Pastry when I was 16 and seduced me behind the cannoli counter. He left with a smirk and my panties. After that, all of Trenton knew what had happened. No, not because we did it in a store, which is nearly public but because Morelli couldn't keep it to himself. He wrote about it in bathroom stalls from Pino's to the locker room. When I was 17, I broke his leg with my Uncle Salvitor's Buick. Joe Morelli wasn't in my life for a while after that. He came back into it as my first, real FTA. That means he was Failure to Appear for his court date. He was a cop arrested for a murder he didn't commit. I solved the murder, attracted a stalker who nearly killed me and cleared Joe's name. Eventually, he became my on-again, off-again boyfriend. We are currently in the off-again part and he is undercover somewhere.**

**The other man in my life is Ricardo Carlos Manoso. His street name is Ranger. Ranger is tough, dangerous and pretty scary. He is also damn good at what he does. He is a bad ass bounty hunter. He is also my mentor, tormentor and my one time lover. As he put it, he is Henry Higgins to my Eliza Doolittle. He is a Cuban-American sex god who has the power to make women walk into walls and drool. When I started bounty hunting, he helped me out and showed me the ropes. When Joe was my FTA, I "commandeered" his Jeep for my personal use. Morelli wasn't happy about this and he ended up chaining me naked to my shower rod with only the phone to get loose. I called Ranger. He hung up on me first but after the second call and some cussing on my part, he took me seriously and came and rescued me. He has been there for me ever since. The one night we spent together was after a deal we made. He would help me with a case and I would sleep with him. The next morning he sent me back to Morelli. Ranger is currently in the wind. He has been out of town for the last few months.**

**As for me, work has been slow. No one is skipping their court dates, which is good for them but I could use the money. I was told by Ranger before he left that there is always a position open for me at Rangeman, his security firm, if I needed it but I don't want to fall back on him. I like my independence and honestly, desk work is boring. I swung into the office on the off chance that I would catch something this morning. Lula and Connie were in their usual positions, Lula on the couch and Connie behind the desk. Lula is a former 'ho who helped me on a case once and near got killed for her troubles. I found her hung up on my fire escape. She decided that that was too close and she quit the business. I helped her get a job at Vinnie's filing, but it seems the only thing she files are her nails. She occasionally helps me on my skips and lately she has been taking on some of her own. Today, she was Day Glo Purple. Purple nails, purple hair, purple spandex, even her purse was purple.**

**Connie Rissoli was Vinnie's pit bull. She was a few years older, a few inches shorter and a few cup sizes bigger than me. Think Betty Boop with a Jersey attitude.**

"**Hey, ladies," I breeze in and plop a box of donuts on the desk. I get two smiles.**

"**Mmm…Steph, you read my mind."**

"**Anything new?" I stretch out next to Lula with a Boston Crème in my hand. Yeah, its tough, but someone has to do it.**

"**Actually, yes. Its your lucky day. Three new ones. Friday must have been the day to miss court." I reach out and take them from her. I flip open the first one to Mooner. He's easy. Probably just forgot his court date. I put him on the bottom. Later, I would check a TV Guide and see what is on, maybe swing through Mickey D's and get a couple of burgers and fries. Mooner is pretty good company for a lazy afternoon.**

**The second one was young man, early to mid 20s. He wasn't from the 'burg but his picture looked friendly enough. He was wanted for indecent exposure and public drunkenness.**

"**Hey, Connie, what's the deal with Andrew Carson?" Lula leaned over my shoulder to look at the file.**

"**He got dumped, got drunk and tried to get laid. The arresting officer didn't approve of his methods."**

"**So, what he and the woman got busy in the bar?" I looked up. Connie chuckled and Lula and I glanced at her.**

"**No, he got turned down so he started to strip. And it wasn't for a woman."**

"**Hunh," Lula laughed.**

"**Who was arresting?" I glance at the name on the file and I don't recognize it.**

"**Brookline. She's new. I think she's trying to play with the big boys. Prove herself." Lula and I both huff and Connie joins us in thinking about how stupid new officers can be. I put Andrew to the side. He doesn't worry me too much either. The third file stopped my heart. Oh, shit.**

**It was a nasty one. Attempted murder. The woman's name Carla Moore. She was 'burg, born and raised. I was surprised I hadn't heard about this from the 'burg grapevine. Carla had been a year older than me and she had pretty close with Morelli through school. The now Terry Gilman hated Carla because Terry had been really serious with Joe in high school and she hadn't appreciated Morelli's side relationship with Carla. After school, Carla had married a boy from outside the 'burg and disappeared off the 'burg radar. Carla's family, the Marino's, were still in the 'burg. Her parents' house was put up for bond money.**

"**Whoa, Connie, what's the deal with Carla Marino? She's a high bond." Lula was already reading over my shoulder.**

"**Damn, she nearly killed her man."**

"**He was a good for nothing anyway. I heard that he has been beating her for years. I guess she just snapped." Connie shrugged.**

"**Why am I getting this?" I usually got the small stuff. Ranger handled the bigger stuff.**

"**Ranger's out of town. Besides, she doesn't have a history of violence." Lula and I look back at the charges. "Well, except that. But I say he probably had it coming, huh?" I shook my head but put it back on my pile.**

"**Want to come?" I ask Lula. "I could use some back up with Carla."**

"**Sure, but we need to go through McDonalds. I'm dying for some of those apple pies."**

**We swung through the drive thru and munched on pies and fries on the drive across town. Carla Moore lived out in Olden on the other side of Trenton from the 'burg. When I pulled up in front of the house, I was surprised that this girl was 'burg. The paint was peeling and the lawn was over grown. It was a small house and looked like it was falling apart. There were broken toys all over the front yard and I could see some serious clutter inside.**

"**Sheesh, this is it?"**

"**Guess so." I grabbed my purse and pulled out my cuffs which I stuck in my back pocket and I checked the batteries on the stun gun. Sounds like a ordinary purse, huh? Well, my gun resides in the cookie jar. I don't like carrying it around. Okay, I don't like it. Period. "Ready?"**

"**Heck yes, lets get this twisted sister."**

"**No shooting! Okay? We are just going to nicely talk to her, got it?"**

"**White girl, you are no fun."**

**We walked up the broken sidewalk and stepped over toy parts.**

"**This is just depressing." I agreed with her. No doubt. I knocked on the door and Lula stayed back to back me up. A big man came to the door after a long pause.**

"**What do you want?" He had a swollen eye and a swollen gut. His voice was rather rough. I was instantly wary of him. I flashed a smile.**

"**I'm looking for Carla. You know where I can find her?"**

"**No, she hasn't showed her ass around here for awhile. What's it to you?"**

"**She, uh, owes me some money. I need it and I was hoping you could help me get it." He seemed to lighten a bit. He must like the idea of sticking it to her.**

" **Na, honey, but if I hear anything from her, I can give you a call. What's your number?" I coyly dug out some paper and wrote down my number instead of giving him my card.**

"**The name is Stephanie." He leered as I handed the paper.**

"**I use to know a stripper named that. Nice name."**

**When Lula and I were in the driving away, we both did a full body shiver. "Nasty man."**


	2. Chapter 2

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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After I dropped Lula at the office, I looked Andrew Carson's file over and was surprised to find that he lived on the floor above me. Seriously. There are over 85 thousand people in Trenton and my skip lives in my apartment building. And I don't know him. I found a decent parking place right in the middle of the lot and took the elevator to the third floor. His apartment was 312.

**I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again. Nothing. On the third knock, I heard a crash and a groan from inside. A moment of silence, then a stumbling walk to the door. There was some groaning added in. Andrew Carson opened the door and leaned against the doorjamb. He looked like crap.**

**"Hello, Andrew Carson?" He stood up straighter and looked serious.**

**"It's Andy," He spoke automatically then winced. With his eyes closed, he spoke softly. "Yes, I'm Andrew Carson. What can I do for you?" He was experimenting with the pitch of his voice, trying to find which hurt his head the least.**

**"Hangover?" I spoke sympathetically. He started to chuckle but stopped.**

**"Oh, yeah. Damn."**

**"Listen, I'm Stephanie Plum. You missed your court date and I'm here to help you reschedule it." He opened his brown eyes.**

**"My court date? What day is it?"**

**"Monday."**

**"Crap. Uh, come on in. We have to leave right?"**

**"Yeah, I have to take you down to the police station." I followed him into the apartment. He had a pair of pajama bottoms on and no shirt. He was actually very well built.**

**"I can't believe I drank the whole weekend away. I really don't drink that much." His apartment was full of boxes.**

**"Did you just move here?" I asked as he disappeared into the bedroom.**

**"Yeah, from Chicago. The apartment was a steal," He laughed. "Or I thought it was. It's a little small and all my neighbors seemed to be retired but it's quiet and cheap and, hey, a place to stay, huh?"**

**"Yeah, I actually live on the second floor."**

**"No kidding," His head popped out of the bedroom. He had a plain black shirt on and a pair of washed out jeans in his hand. "I don't know anyone from here. It seems to be a pretty tight knit town."**

**"What brought you to Trenton?" He came out and sat down beside me on the couch. He shrugged.**

**"My, uh, serious boyfriend lived in Newark. I moved to be closer to him," He gave me a look. "I just found out that he was moving to New York City to be closer to a guy that he had just met. I guess the guy was an actor." He shrugged.**

**"Wow, what an ass." Andy laughed.**

**"Yeah, but I was an idiot to be so blind. I thought he didn't want me to move because he was worried about me."**

**"Oh, trust me, I get the whole blind thing. I caught my ex-husband playing hide the salami with my worst enemy on our table." We both cringe. After chatting for a while about how stupid men can be, I ask him if he has a TV Guide. He handed me the current one and I looked to see if anything was on. It was noon now and a Gilligan's Island marathon was on until four.**

**"What are you doing this afternoon?"**

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**When we walked up the sidewalk to Mooner's duplex, Mooner opened the door and eyed my new-to-me Suzuki. He had a jar of Shur-Fine peanut butter in one hand and a spoon in the other. Andy looked at him then at me. Mooner had one eye closed and his head tilted looking at the black, boxy car behind us.**

**"New car, huh?"**

**"Yep." Mooner nodded wisely.**

**"Dougie didn't think your last one would last long." I sighed. Dougie was Mooner's stoner friend with a black market business on the side. I went to school with both of these guys.**

**"They never do."**

**"Ah, dude. I forgot again, huh?" I nodded very zenly. "Oh, dude, Gilligan's Island is on. Come on, it's just starting." We followed. I pointed to Andy and told Mooner his name. Mooner nodded as if he already knew. I had already told Andy who Mooner was in the car. So we sat and watched TV for the rest of the afternoon.**

**Mooner got really into the commercials, singing along and everything. At one point, I asked Moony why he didn't have his usual brand of peanut butter.**

**"The cost, dude. We all have to make sacrifices."**

**After several failed attempts to get off the island, we locked up and I drove us to the nearest artery clogging, red and gold building. There are tons of fast food places in Trenton. You have to love this city.**

**While we were munching the famous, golden fries, I called Connie and got Vinnie to rebail my two skips. I watched Mooner chat very seriously with Andy about something, probably related to being gay and watched Andy trying hard not to smile. I did a mental happy dance at what a good idea it was to get these two together. Andy looked happy and Mooner had someone to study.**

**After the police station, I dropped Mooner off and looked at Andy. He was relaxed and smiling.**

**"Thanks, Steph. I needed that." I laughed and before I could answer, my phone went off. It was Grandma Mazur asking if I was coming to dinner. I thought about my empty kitchen and the moths living in my wallet.**

**"You got anything to eat at your place?" He shook his head.**

**"Yeah, Grandma, there are two of us coming." I hung up and looked at Andy. "Prepare yourself."**

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**When I pulled up, Grandma and Mom were waiting at the door. As their eyes caught sight of Andy, both sets light up for totally different reasons.**

**"Okay, mom thinks you're going to marry me and Grandma might try to feel you up", I quietly informed him on the way to the house.**

**"Stephanie! You brought company. What a wonderful surprise!" Mom gave me a hug, then Andy one.**

**"Oh, you are a sly one, aren't you? Hello, handsome!"**

**"This is Andy. He's new in my building and a friend." We moved into the dining room and sat down. Dad groaned softly and shut off the TV. He sat at the head of the table and gave his mother-in-law a deadly glare for some remark she made about there being men who didn't just sit and watch TV all day to Andy.**

**See, when my Grandpa Mazur joined Elvis in the poker game in the sky, my Grandma moved in with my parents. And after being the proper 'burg wife for so many years, she kind of went a little crazy. I think she had just bottled up her true essence for so long being good and proper, that when her husband was six feet under she just burst at the seams. It is all coming out, much to the shock of my proper Catholic mother.**

**I caught Andy looking my grandmother over from the freshly dyed bright red hair, "Oh, do you like my hair? I'm not sure if its my shade but I just needed a change!", to her lime green tracksuit, she was quite the sight. That and her constant chatter at him, it must have been hard to ignore her. Somewhere in the middle, it slipped out that he was actually batting for the home team and the reaction around the table was just as expected. My mother gasped, Grandma switched trains of thought from seduction to what gay sex was like, and my dad just kept eating. A bit after that mom went into the kitchen for a long time and came back a little bit tipsy.**

**Andy quietly asked if she had anything against gays.**

**"No, she just really wants me to get married." I whispered back.**

**All in all, dinner was dinner. The pot roast and pineapple upside down cake were amazing and we survived. Mom mentioned that they were cleaning out the attic and they had found some of my stuff.**

**"Oh, don't worry about it now. Frank can bring it over later. I know you must be very busy. Oh, I heard from Candy Bryant's sister that there was a position open at that new little diner down on fourth. Wouldn't you just love that?"**

**But I managed to get Andy and myself out alive and we both got food for later.**

**"Mmm, your mom is a great cook."**

**"Yep, she's the perfect 'burg wife. Martha Stewart has nothing on her."**

**"'Burg?"**

**"Chambersburg, that's what this neighborhood is called. It has this whole set of expectations along with the real estate."**

**"And you don't fit in those expectations?" I grin at him in the growing darkness of my car.**

**"How did you guess?"**

**That night I fell into bed and smiled. It had been a pretty good day. I brought in two skips and at the same time spent a day with friends. Yep, just perks of the job.**

**I woke up at 2 am to that familiar tingling.**

**"Babe." It was a whisper. Ah, the man in black is back.**


	3. Chapter 3

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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"Ranger," I started to sit up to see him better. "You're back."

**He didn't say anything, just continued taking his guns off and a few knives and his cell phone, which went on the nightstand, and a bunch of things that I couldn't name in the dark. Then, he slipped his shirt off and looked at me. I guess he was going to spend the night.**

**I lifted up the blanket and slid over a little and a very tired Ranger slid in with me. Normally, I would probably be excited and beyond belief scared. I mean, come on. He's fire, he's magic, he's probably going to break my heart but tonight, that didn't matter. I was happy to see him and he looked exhausted. Yeah, so, I just want to be with him. Wouldn't you? He pulled me closer and we snuggled in.**

**I murmured, "When did you get back to Trenton?"**

**"Just did." I was about to ask why he didn't go home or see Tank or whatever Batman did when he got back from a trip. I really meant to ask him a whole bunch of questions and not just let him in my bed without a word, but I fell asleep.**

**When I woke up, I was warm and I felt incredibly safe. I struggled to remember what happened last night, then I felt an arm tighten around my waist. Oh, right. Batman slept with me. I must have tensed because soon I felt a thumb rubbing my tummy, oddly relaxing me. I roll to my other side and faced Ranger.**

**"Hey," I smiled. He smiled back. For me, the morning after is usually awkward. Its just a confusing time to go through. How do you act after you boinked someone or even just cuddled? Did I make weird noises in the night? Or do I have a funky smell? Well, you would think morning after with Ranger would be the worst. He is a man of few words. Don't get me wrong here, he talks but he doesn't waste words.**

**This morning, his blank face was on vacation. He looked relaxed. He looked sexy and open. And oddly enough, I didn't feel any awkwardness. I closed my eyes and relaxed. Maybe a few more minutes. He chuckled and I heard knocking on my door. I groaned.**

**"Think I could just ignore it?" We listened again. More knocking, this was becoming pounding.**

**"Better get that, babe." Yeah, yeah. I crawled out of bed and made sure I had some clothes on. Panties and a tank top…now where did I put those jeans?**

**As I approached the door, there was another set of banging. Alright, alright, already. I peek through the peep hole and take a step back in shock. You have to be kidding me. Well, that's a first.**

**I grab the stun gun from my purse, just in case and open the door.**

**"Carla Moore." She had her fist raised to knock again. Her one good eye looked at me in shock. The other was swollen and bruising badly.**

**"Stephanie Plum?"**

**"Uh huh," Before I can say another word, she launches.**

**"Oh, thank god, I found you! I heard from my aunt that you help people solve crimes and I need your help! It's a matter of life and death here! Not just my life, well that too, but my little girl's. . ."**

**"Whoa, Carla, what are you talking about?" She looked at me with her one good eye and it was filling with tears. Oh, God. I led her into the living room and had her sit down. Ranger was in the kitchen, making coffee.**

**"Oh, you are a god." I wrapped my arms around him.**

**"Who is she?"**

**"My skip. Her name is Carla Moore nee Marino. She is in some kind of trouble and she needs my help." I frowned. He gave me a look.**

**"Only you, babe, only you." He gave me a quick kiss. "If you need any help, just call." I nodded and watched him leave. One of these days, I should probably make him talk, but right now, why mess with a good thing?**

**I took two cups of coffee into the living room and handed one to Carla. She groaned and started drinking it like it was water and she had been in the desert for a week.**

**"So," I started. She looked at me expectantly. I sighed. "You know, I'm a bounty hunter and you missed your court date. That makes you a fugitive." She started shaking her head before I could finish the sentence.**

**"Oh, I can't go back to jail! If I do, they will kill me and hurt my baby! Please, you have to help me!" I held up a hand to try to stop the flow. I could hardy understand her.**

**"Who is going to hurt you?"**

**"The storm troopers! Darth Vader!" I nearly dropped my coffee. I went to college for four years. I have a degree. So, like the intelligent person I am, I have fabulous responses.**

**"Huh?" Yeah, well, this lady just said Darth Vader was going to kill her. So sue me. I coupled this with a jaw drop. She nodded and from somewhere in my response, she was encouraged. Go figure.**

**"He kidnapped me and my baby on Thursday morning. It looked just like him when he was in the movies! And the storm troopers, those white guys, you know? They held me in this place, I think it was the Death Star. It looked just like it. When I was there, they had us in this prison thingy. It wasn't like those high tech prison cells from the movie, you know, like what Princess Leia was kept in? It was like a big cage. Well, he has been asking me all these questions about my husband's business. Why would Darth Vader care about Karl's business? I don't know. Yesterday afternoon, I think, there weren't any windows in that place, they let me out of the cage to go to the bathroom and I ran. Some how I got out of there and I made it to my aunt's. Aunt Donna. She lives on the edge of the 'burg, you know? And she told me about you. Stephanie, you have to help me! He still has Gracie!" Throughout her story, she had been calm. Almost monotone. But by the end, she was shrieking.**

**"Carla, Carla! Calm down, okay? We'll get Gracie back. I just need to get some paper." I got up off the couch and while I went in search of paper, I thought about Carla's story. Darth Vader? The Death Star? Storm troopers? We grew up in the 80's. I was born in the late 70's when Star Wars came out. I fed off it as a kid but that was just my type of thing. I never saw Carla as the type to know it so well, let alone to make it her delusion. She is more the type to have never heard of it. No offense to her but I never coined her to be smart enough to retain the details.**

**I found a notebook and I returned to the couch and had Carla give me every detail that she could about the kidnapping and about her captors. We had just finished and I was thinking about what she had told me when there was a knock at the door. "Stay, please, Carla." She looked jumpy. I'm not sure I could blame her.**

**I opened the door to Andy and my dad carrying two boxes each. Hmm.**

**"Uh, hey, guys." I let them in. "What is all this?"**

**"Your stuff from the attic," Dad grunted as he set the two boxes down. Oh, right. I gave Andy a look. He just shrugged.**

**"I was just coming back in and your dad was unloading his, um, taxi. I just helped him up." Dad patted my shoulder and led Andy out. Hmm…Dad always did want a son. I waved goodbye to those two.**

**"Wow, he's cute!" Carla was leaning against the doorjamb, watching Andy's butt. I laughed.**

**"Somehow, I don't think you're his type."**

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**I'm sure Ranger would probably never let a skip leave when he had them in his apartment. In fact, I'm sure Ranger never had a skip in his apartment. Yeah, he's bad ass like that. But I'm not Ranger and Carla was tired so I sent her to her Aunt Donna's and I went and showered. I'm not a morning person and I had seen more people today then I like to before ten.**

**I swung into the office about a half an hour later with a box of Crispy Crème's finest and the girls were happy to see me. I dropped my two body slips on the desk and settled in next to Lula with a donut and a sigh.**

**"Hey, white girl, we were just talking about me in that band. I was thinking maybe I should change my name. You know, to something a little classier. Like, Natasha or Shinequa. What do you think?"**

**"I like Shinequa."**

**"Yeah, and I could just go by one name. Like Cher or Madonna."**

**"Shinequa Brown. That's not bad either."**

**"Yup, it's a good name. Damn skippy."**

**"Got anything for me, Connie?" I took the check from her. She laughed.**

**"Steph, you're going to love this one." She handed me a file. I opened it and Lula and I hooted. Dead serious. We hooted. It was that good. Joyce Barnhart's mugshot stared up at us.**

**"Who's arresting?"**

**"Our new girl. She might not be so bad after all."**

**"Brookline? Shit, that girl's good."**

**Joyce was arrested for public indecency, assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and carrying concealed without a permit. This was too good.**

**"Public indecency? That's just natural for her."**

**"Evidently, she was, umm, exposed in a car. She wasn't too happy to be interrupted but it was across the street from an elementary school. Brookline just happened on her." We all got a good laugh.**

**"Was this a solitary pursuit or did she have company?"**

**"She had a snake."**

**"Ewww," I gagged.**

**"Nasty, nasty bitch."**


	4. Chapter 4

******Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.**

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**On the way to The Tramp's, Lula and I stopped at Arby's. Hey, we were thinking Arby's! Besides, I think better with curly fries in my mouth. We had just gotten our five things for $5, actually $6.43 with tax, when my phone buzzed.**

**"Yo." Flipping my phone open with one hand and holding my loaded tray in the other while following Lula through a busy Arby's was no joke.**

**"Hey, Steph."**

**"Andy! What's up?" There was a bit of silence on the other end. Then a cleared throat. I frowned as I hopped up into the high seat on one of the big tables that were like six feet in the air.**

**"Where are you?"**

**"Arby's on Hampton."**

**"I could use some company, mind if I meet you there?"**

**"Sure, you can be our bait." He laughed. He obviously had no idea what I was talking about. If he did, he would probably run away screaming. Poor guy.**

**"Be there in five." And he hung up. Okay, Andy is better then most men in my life with phone manners but we needed to work on the ending. Always the ending.**

**"What's up?" Lula said around a motz stick. She was apple red today. I noticed that she never got her lipstick on her teeth. Hmm… When I left, the office, Lula said that there was no way that she was missing this and loaned me one of her guns. Connie had seemed really disappointed to miss the showdown, maybe we should bring her back one of those coffee flavored shakes from here.**

**"A friend wants to help with Joyce. He's good looking so it should go well."**

**"Who's the guy?"**

**"My skip from yesterday."**

**"Hunh." We just sat in thought for a while. Andy walked in and found us pretty quickly. Lula laughed when she saw Andy. He was a pretty well dressed man. "Hope her gay radar is broken." I grin at Lula.**

**"She doesn't care one way or the other."**

**"Mmm…curly fries." Andy grabbed a couple before I swatted him.**

**"Lula, Andy." They eyed each other for a moment then went back to happily munching.**

**Once we were in the car, Lula's Firebird with Andy in the back, Andy asked what the deal was.**

**"Joyce is the skank that I found under my ex-husband." This got two annoyed grunts from my friends. "She is dirty in every way and she is a fellow bounty hunter. She's also FTA and we get the pleasure of bringing her ass in."**

**"And I'm…"**

**"Bait."**

**"Great."**

*** * * * * * * ***

**Lula pulled up in front of Joyce's house and I was disgusted to find that is was a nice 'burg house. It was neat and tidy and it must have cost a pretty penny.**

**Following the plan, Lula went out back and Andy went to the door. I stood to the side with my stun gun, out of sight. He rang the door bell and she answered pretty fast and in very little. There was a short satin robe loosely tied around her waist. That was it. She obviously wasn't wearing panties, and a bra would have been overkill in that outfit, don't you think?**

**"Hello, there." She purred. How the hell she did it, I don't know, but she purred. Andy put on his best "interested" look and a grin.**

**"Hi, I'm Drew. I actually just moved in down the street and I was wondering if I could have a cup of sugar."**

**"Oh, you can have more than a cup, sugar, much more than a cup." She reached out to take his hand and I shot out and pressed the stun gun to her arm. She collapsed in a heap, revealing quite a bit of herself.**

**"Ugh."**

**"I second that." Lula came around the corner.**

**"Aw, I missed it."**

**Andy just shook his head. The three of us got her to the car without any of us touching her too much. She started to come to halfway to the cop shop and I leaned back and stunned her again. And again. Hey, we don't want to take any chances here.**

**Big Dog and Carl were on a smoke break when we pulled in. They looked at her as we dug her out and got big grins on their faces.**

**"She's all your's, boys."**

**"You do have paperwork on her, right, Steph?" Carl grinned and stepped on his cigarette.**

**"Would I touch this if I wasn't making money?"**

**"Just checking." The two cops maneuvered inside and I went for my body slip. Inside at the desk, Joe walked over and watched Joyce being carried to a cell. He shook his head and gave me a look over.**

**"You're back." I gave him a hug.**

**"I got back Saturday." I nodded and took my body slip from the desk officer.**

**I was about to say something to Joe when I saw a woman watching us over his shoulder. She had reddish-brown hair and a slender pair of horn-rimmed glasses. I nodded to her. She was dressed in a pantsuit so I assumed she was a detective.**

**"Well, I better get back outside. You know how Lula loves cops." I smiled at Joe and gave him a finger wave. I wondered as I walked who that woman was and if she was watching me or Joe.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**I collapsed on my sofa and Andy sat in the chair next to it.**

**"Is your life always like this?"**

**"Nah, it's usually messier."**

**"Oh?"**

**"Lots of garbage, some big guys covered in Vaseline or chocolate, sometimes I even catch a geriatric skip and there isn't much worse for making you feel like a low life then chasing an old man who looks like your grandpa," I shrugged and Andy nodded.**

**"You like what you do?"**

**I thought about this for awhile. "Yeah, I guess I do. It has certainly changed my life." Andy looked deep in thought. "What happened this morning?" He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. Then he sighed.**

**"Derek, my ex, called."**

**"Oh?"**

**"Yeah, he wanted some of his stuff that he had left at my apartment."**

**"Ouch."**

**"Yeah."**

**I sat up. The boxes were in the corner of the hallway. There were two more boxes. "I think they are multiplying." He looked and smiled.**

**"Want some help?"**

**I almost said no, that he didn't need to help me anymore. But that wasn't the point was it? "Sure. Let's see how handy you are." He chuckled and we pulled the boxes into the open space in the living room.**

**In the first two boxes, there were books and comic books. Nancy Drew, the Boxcar Children, the Hardy Boys and some horse books that must have been Val's. I put those aside to give to Mary Alice. The comic books made me laugh hard. They were Batman.**

**Two of the boxes were clothes. I put those aside to sort out later. Maybe I would give some to charity or my nieces.**

**One of the boxes were Barbies that must have been Val's too. I didn't play with Barbies. Or dress them up, so the clothes were definitely out. I put that box aside too.**

**By the time I came to the sixth box, Andy was laying on the floor on his stomach flipping through a Batman comic book. I looked inside and saw that it was kind of just some odds and ends. My tummy announced that it had been too long since it had been fed and my eyes were tired.**

**"How 'bout some Pino's?"**

**"Pino's?" He rolled up.**

**"Best pizza in Jersey."**

**"I'm in."**

*** * * * * * * ***

**As we walked into Pino's we were hit by the amazing smell and the cheery background noise. Pino's was a cop hang out, but I was friends with half the cops in Trenton so it wasn't like I was scared. We slid into a booth and were greeted by Angie, the waitress. I had grown up with Angie and we had lived down the street from each other.**

**"Hey, girl."**

**"Yo, Angie." She eyed Andy and flashed him a friendly smile when he looked up. She set two Cokes down in front of us without asking and asked if I wanted the usual. Maybe I come here too much, but sometimes its nice to be known this well. With a parting smile to Andy, Angie walked on.**

**We chatted like old friends until the pizza came, then dug in without a word.**

**He moaned, "Oh, God! This is-wow." I grinned at him. I had found a fellow foodie. No doubt, we were going to get along just fine. As we were finishing up, he looked behind me for a little while then he shook his head. "That's the cop that arrested me."**

**"Brookline?" As he nodded, I turned. Smooth, Steph, be smooth. The only female in the group of cops behind me was the woman I saw earlier. The one in the pantsuit and glasses. She looked pretty tense. The guys around her were guffawing. She looked up right at me and I unturned real fast. Yup, that's smooth.**

**I listened in to the cops. They were teasing her for some bust or another. I tried to figure out which department she would be in. Vice? Robbery? The two arrests that I knew about, Andy and Joyce, were rookie stuff. The cops in uniform brought those types in, not detectives. Maybe she had just happened on to both of those and is trying to up her record. The guys around the table were letting out another round of laughter and she definitely wasn't joining in.**

**I listened in and Andy gathered our stuff. He handed me my stuff and he took his time about it. I guess he knew what I was doing. I nodded to tell him that I was ready and we both dropped some bills on the table. On our way out, I felt Brookline's gaze on us.**

**As we were about to leave, Joe came in with a couple of other detectives. I gave him a quick kiss and introduced him to Andy. They shook hands and looked serious about it. As they greeted each other by trying to break each others hands, I looked over to Brookline. This time her gaze was definitely on Joe. I caught her eye and this time it was her turn to look away. I waved to Joe and led Andy out.**

**"Hey, cupcake." I turned. And Joe gave me a comical look. He turned and we walked away, with me laughing.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**"Soo… Cupcake, huh?" I gave Andy a look and giggled again. He looked dead serious. Like a father who just met his daughter's newest hoodlum. He grinned and settled back. "I think he might have cracked a few bones in my hand." He said, and flexed his injured hand. "I think he was just testing your strength or maybe pain tolerance. It's for your own good."**

**"He knows you that well, huh?" I smacked him and we laughed. As we pulled into my lot, I swear I met a car with Darth Vader in it.**

**I did a double take. "Did you see that?"**

**He looked back. "See what?"**

**"Never mind."**

**I said goodnight to Andy at the elevator and walked to my door. It opened a little when I put the key to the door knob. Uh oh.**


	5. Chapter 5

******Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.**

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**Okay, the smart thing would have been to call Ranger or one of his Merry Men to come in and check it out. Or Joe and his fellow cop friends. Or, hell, Andy, he's a big enough guy. But honestly, I don't think like that. Does anyone really? I mean, in the real world. I know Ranger probably does. I doubt Joe does. And I am good at reacting, not thinking ahead. Hey, I'm doing okay at living like this, so sue me.**

**I pushed the door open and I was mad that someone had invaded my space. Again. I mean, come on! There isn't anything that interesting in my apartment. Just stay out like a normal person. It popped into my head that Darth Vader isn't what most would consider normal people, but if I started thinking like that I would start to look for Luke Skywalker to come and kick his dark side butt and that's just not rational.**

**As I feared, my apartment was ransacked. The couch had been tipped over and the contents of the boxes were scattered all over the room. All my kitchen drawers had been emptied on the floor. All the plates, glasses and bowls had been set on the counter under their respective cabinets. Rex's aquarium had even been messed with. His new soup can sitting on the counter and the bedding had been rummaged through. Rex was curled up in the corner, trembling. I replaced the soup can and he scurried into it. Poor baby. I walked past my bathroom and into my bedroom. Same story in both places. Nothing seemed to be destroyed or missing.**

**Back in the living room, I pulled out my phone. First, I speed dialed one.**

"**Yo."**

"**Yo, yourself. I have a bit of trouble."**

"**What's up?"**

"**Someone broke into my apartment when I was out."**

"**Be right there." I heard him hang up. I speed dialed two and I had a similar conversation with Joe.**

"**Be careful, cupcake, okay? Now would not be a good time to be alone." We hung up and I made a quick decision. I punched in the new number.**

"**Hon, we just said goodnight." He laughed.**

"**Yeah, but I have trouble sleeping when someone breaks into my place."**

"**Crap, I'll be right down."**

"**Thanks, Andy, I owe you."**

"**Anything for you." The third man in my life hung up on me. Jeez, this has to be me.**

**Andy and Ranger came in the same time. Ranger and I shared a look. I think he was making sure that I was okay, but sometimes I have a hard time reading him.**

"**Babe," He shook his head slightly.**

"**Heya, Ranger," I gave him a finger wave and a smile. Oh, come on. I go through this a lot but I'm still in shock here. "Thanks, Andy." Ranger raised an eyebrow pointedly about the new guy.**

"**Um, I'm Andy Carson. Steph's new neighbor." I had to look twice at Andy. At first I thought he was nervous, it turned out that he was turned on.**

"**This is Ranger. My, uh, friend." I said this as I walked out of the room. I had to leave so I didn't laugh in front of them. Joe must have arrived while I was still giggling with Rex. Coming back into the room, I was surprised that only two cops came with Joe. Ordinarily, at least five came. It's for the betting pool, I'm sure. Instead, he brought Detective Brookline and a short man I didn't recognize.**

**Joe walked over to me and gave me a kiss, but it was actually for the heads up he murmured in my ear. "Detective Brookline is robbery. She's green and I think she's a bit of a hotshot. Detective Mathews is on his second straight shift and he doesn't want to catch a case right before shift change. Help them out, okay?" I nodded, wondering how I was supposed to do that.**

"**Hello, detectives." I smiled and I didn't get a smile back. Brookline was glaring at Andy, and Ranger had his blank face on and he was watching the two detectives, especially Brookline. She turned her green eyes on me.**

"**Do you make it a point to spend time with criminals?" I'm sure this was mostly aimed toward Andy, who was her collar, but there was no doubt in my mind that she included Ranger in the category "criminal".**

"**No, I make it a point to spend my time with good people. Some of them just happen to commit crimes." The cops asked me a few questions, like if there was anything that was missing or if I knew anyone that would wish me harm. That last one lightened the mood for the regulars in my life. I've had plenty of stalkers. I just seem to attract them. Must be my magnetic personality. Detective Mathews dusted for prints while Brookline interviewed me. I don't know what her problem was but it was apparent that her feelings toward me were less than warm and inviting.**

**After taking my prints for comparison and the three others, the two detectives left. Joe kissed me goodbye and offered a warm bed for me if I wanted one. I declined with a smile. I needed to clean up here. Ranger and Andy helped me fix my furniture and Andy offered his couch or his help cleaning up the mess. I declined both. He smiled and waved, with one last glance at Ranger, he went back to his place.**

**I sat on the couch with Ranger sipping a beer. I needed it.**

"**So…who's the guy?" Ranger looked at me with a strange look. I laughed.**

"**You're more his type than I am." Ranger just cracked a smile and relaxed a little. "You know anything about Brookline?" He shook his head slowly.**

"**She doesn't seem to like you much." I frowned. She really didn't. Something seemed off about her.**

"**Can you look into her for me?" He had mega computers at Rangeman. He can find anything. He nodded. He was watching me with a blank look on his face. "What?"**

**He moved a little closer and touched my cheek with his palm. He was looking into my eyes and it felt like he could see my soul. I was still trying to understand why he was acting so strange when he took my breathe away with a soft kiss that I hadn't seen coming. He slid one hand down my back to my hip and pulled me closer. His other hand slid around from my cheek to the back of my head. His kiss became hotter when he opened his mouth and started doing sinful things to my mouth. I moaned and kissed him back. My hands slid up his chest, feeling his heat through his shirt. God, he felt amazing. I wanted more but he pulled away. With one soft, quick kiss to my mouth, he stood.**

**I looked up at him in a daze. He flashed a soft smile and walked out of my apartment.**

"**Night, babe."**

*** * * * * * * ***

**I was still feeling pretty good when I finished cleaning my kitchen and my bathroom. My bedroom could wait until tomorrow. In the living room, I boxed the stuff back up and rummaged through the junk box. There was a boxed set of the three Star Wars movies that I had worshiped as a kid and my red superhero cape. There was a small red Teddy bear that was in pretty bad shape that I used to call Ted-ted. There was a big clunky Walkman with a cassette still in it. I popped it out and found "Stairway to Heaven". There was a pair of L.A. Gear sneakers that I used to covet. And a record for "One Night in Bangkok" by Murray Head.**

**I smiled going through this stuff that used to be my treasures as a kid. I was thinking about what a coincidence that Carla Marino came to me with her problem with Darth Vader and Mom and Dad give me my old Star Wars movies in the same day. I pulled the movies out of the box and a slip of paper fell out. It twirled to the floor while I stared at it, dumbfounded. Hunh.**

**I put the movies back in the box and picked up the folded paper. It was from a notebook and it looked pretty old. It was in my ten year old self's untidy scrawl. Hmm…**

**Stephanie Michelle Plum**

**I unfolded it and found a list. I sat back on my heels and remembered when I wrote out this list 20 years ago. My eyes widen, oh God, I hadn't thought about this for years. I started shaking and looked down at the list. I wrote this list after I had lost my best friend.**

**When I was eight, a new girl came to our classroom in the middle of the year. She was shy and everyone tried to get to know her at first, but gave up pretty quickly when she seemed completely disinterested. I followed her at recess and found her talking to a younger version of herself. They were both blondes with big blue eyes. "Nicole?" I spoke softly, feeling a little ashamed of following her. She didn't seem surprised to see me and both girls were pretty friendly. Nicole and I became fast friends and her little sister, Gaby, followed us everywhere. She hero worshipped us. Nicole felt like my sister. I only spent the night at her house once and I quickly understood her secret. Her step dad was abusive.**

**Once I asked why she didn't live with her real dad and she looked at me for a long time before telling me what he had done to her. Her daddy was a rapist. I had cried to my mom that night and she held me. It was one of the few times I think that we really connected. Nicole and Gaby told me that they were moving a year later. I begged my parents to adopt them, I begged them to let my parents adopt them, but it just wasn't meant to be. They gave me some of their favorite things as gifts and we promised to write. I've never heard from either of them again. Not long after they left, I wrote this list. They taught my child's self that I had to live because they both had death sentences.**

**Now twenty years later, I unfolded this paper and read the list of things that I thought needed to be lived.**

**Learn Italian.**

**Visit Africa.**

**Skydive.**

**Kick Joe Morelli's butt.**

**Learn Tae Kwon Do.**

**Save people.**

**Know when you've met that guy.**

**(Like Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese,**

**Or Princess Leia and Han Solo,**

**Or Wonder Woman and Batman)**

**Fly.**

**Live outside the 'burg.**

**Never forget your friends.**


	6. Chapter 6

****

Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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I didn't wake up the next morning until 10 and that was hard. My eyes were swollen from crying and my nose was slightly plugged. I sat up in bed and groaned when I saw the mess that my room was in. I stumbled into the bathroom and answered mother nature's call. Damn, it's my time of the month… gotta love those little gifts.

**I showered, then decided I didn't want to face the real world yet so I shaved, then moisturized, then decided to style my hair. First, I straightened it. I didn't like that so I curled it. It fell in soft curls around my face and down my back. I felt pretty insecure so I had a pretty heavy hand with my make up. Lots of mascara, eye liner, shadow and blush. I looked like I was going clubbing not going to work. I sighed and washed some of it off and pulled my hair up in a high ponytail.**

**Looking in the mirror I decided that this was as good as I was going to get. I went out into my room and found some clothes, a soft, old pair of jeans and a comfy, white t-shirt that had Elmo holding the globe telling the world to 'Think Green' and my Doc Martins. I was good to go.**

**In the kitchen sat a McDonald's bag with a large fry and two cherry pies. Next to it was a large coke. Fresh. I groaned and dug in. Sitting next to the bag was a manila folder. I opened it and found that it was a background of Detective Brookline. I sat and flipped through the file and munched on the cure. Heck, yes…it was good to know Batman. A knock sounded at my door. I stumbled to the door and looked through the peephole. On the other side stood a blond man that I didn't recognize. He looked pretty harmless. I opened the door.**

**"Hi," He gave me a tight smile. He had thin lips and rather small, watery eyes. Altogether, he looked kind of unattractive and colorless.**

**"Hello," I returned his smile.**

**"Uh, yes…I was wondering if you could help me. I'm a little lost and I think I have the wrong apartment." I nodded to him and waited for him to continue. "Well, I was told 212, but he never was very good with directions, you know?" He smiled tightly again and I realized that he was rather uncomfortable. And he was looking behind me. I looked behind me, too and I didn't see anything. Looking back at him as if to encourage him to get on with it. Now, he was even more flustered because he had been caught looking in my apartment for whoever he was looking for. "Sorry. I'm just looking for Andrew Carson. Do you know him by any chance?"**

**I thought about this for a moment. I considered closing the door in his face or whipping out my phone and calling Andy or both. I gave him a tight smile of my own.**

**"And you are?" He didn't seem happy about my question. Tough shit.**

**"Derek Walton." His teeth clenched a little. I sighed. What choice did I have?**

**"I don't know him. Is he new here?" Derek did clench his teeth this time and walked down the hall. I flipped my phone open and rang Andy.**

**"Heya, hon." He sounded happy.**

**"Hey. You expecting company?"**

**"Um, no?" I could hear the confused frown through the phone.**

**"Derek just knocked on my door. Evidently, you gave him the wrong floor."**

**"Damn. No, he's just terrible at taking directions. God, what is he doing here?"**

**"Looking for you."**

**"What did you tell him?"**

**"That I didn't know you." He snorted on the other end.**

**"Alright, give me five minutes then give him my room number."**

**"Deal. Want me to wait for you in the parking lot?"**

**"Oh, God, yes. Fifteen minutes, tops."**

**I gathered my stuff for the day and closed and locked my door. It was a childish security thing but hey, it was comforting. I turned and saw Derek still wandering around on my floor.**

**"He's in 312." I spoke as I passed then jogged down the stairs without looking back. I flipped through the file on Brookline as I waited in my car by the dumpster. She had been raised in Massachusetts, about an hour out of Boston. College at Smith College, a women's only college, and a semester at Columbia for law school. She dropped out of that and enrolled in the police academy in Brooklyn. Made detective fast. Evidently, she was smart. Not only smart, she had guts and good instincts. The background was rather sketchy on some details but it was enough to give me a good picture of the woman and make me respect her. I still didn't understand her dislike for me.**

**I opened the note on top of the closed file.**

**Stephanie Michelle Plum**

**Learn Italian.**

**Visit Africa.**

**Skydive.**

**Kick Joe Morelli's butt.**

**Learn Tae Kwon Do.**

**Save people.**

**Know when you've met that guy.**

**(Like Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese,**

**Or Princess Leia and Han Solo,**

**Or Wonder Woman and Batman)**

**Fly.**

**Live outside the 'burg.**

**Never forget your friends.**

**At age 30, could I cross any of these off?**

**The door opened, Andy flopped inside and slammed the door, hard. Hmm… maybe it hadn't gone well. I looked at him. His jaw was clenched and his eyes were closed.**

**"Wanna talk about it?" I asked softly. He just shook his head. Okay then. I motored out of the lot and started toward the bonds office then something hit me that I had blocked out last night. "Oh, shit." I murmured and headed in the other direction toward the edge of the 'burg.**

**"What?" His voice was tense, just begging for a distraction.**

**"If my apartment was tossed, there is a good chance this is related to Carla. Carla is staying with her aunt." He breathed out sharply.**

**"Uh oh."**

**"Yeah." In ten minutes, I pulled in front of Donna Marino's duplex. Half of it was painted Seashell White and the other was gunmetal gray. Cheery. Donna lived in the white half. We swung out and walked up the steps. I started to knock on the door, when it swung open.**

**"Jeesh." I turned to Andy and he was looking into the house, pale as a sheet. I followed his gaze and choked. Donna was laying in a pool of her own blood with the house ransacked around her. I rushed in and checked her for a pulse. Donna was an old woman and she was a pretty big gal. It was hard to feel it and I wasn't sure if it wasn't my own heart. Distantly, I heard Andy on his cell phone calling 911.**

**"Tell them to send an ambulance, fast." Andy relayed the message without question. I started CPR and continued it until the crew arrived and set up around me. The EMT touched my shoulder then took my place. They loaded her and one of the EMT's, Doug, flashed me a thumbs up. She was breathing and they were gone. I answered questions for Eddie and as I was finishing up, Detective Brookline arrived on scene. We nodded to each other and I got in the car with Andy. We sat there for a minute, just breathing.**

**"I need a shower." So we went back to our building in Hamilton.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**"So, you think Darth Vader has kidnapped Carla, again and trashed both of your places?" Andy asked over cold pizza.**

**"You have any better ideas?"**

**"Find someone who is a Star Wars nut. Maybe there is a Comic Con in the area. It would explain the costume." I nodded. I had thought of this already. "Know anyone?"**

**"Maybe." Well, I knew someone who might know someone.**

**We parked in front of the nondescript apartment building and Andy turned toward me. He had already told me that he was sticking to me today. He said it was because he didn't want me to be out in Trenton alone, it wasn't safe with murderous Sith Lords running around. I thought it was just because he didn't want to be alone, but I wasn't arguing with him.**

**"Whose your source?" He said trying to sound very official. I laughed and got out. This was going to be an official interview for a very unofficial type person. Andy followed me up the stairs and down the hall. Answering my knock was a very hairy, very tall man. He gave me a hug.**

**"Steph!" I hadn't seen Sally Sweet for a long time. I nodded to Andy.**

**"Andy, this is Sally Sweet. Musician, drag queen and generous source." Sally smiled at Andy and Andy looked a little pale. I felt bad for him, probably still faint from this morning.**

**"Come on in, you two." Sally gestured us in. "Oh, fuck." The phone began ringing. He pointed to the couch then went and picked up the phone. While he was talking to whoever, with plenty of cussing thrown in for good measure, we looked around and discussed a few of the outfits Sally had laying out to wear later. Right now he was in jeans and heels with a black wife beater with "Sexy" written in metallic silver across the front. He wasn't wearing a wig but he did have hoops in.**

**"That motherfucker! He cancelled on me tonight." We clucked sympathetically and listened to Sally talk about his recent gigs. "So what can I do for you?"**

**"You know anyone who is into Star Wars?" He frowned.**

**"Yeah, dudette, I have a couple of friends who live for it. You interested?" I shook my head.**

**"No, I have a case that seems to involve Darth Vader."**

**"Ah, I see." He nodded wisely. "They are a little tough to get a hold of. How about I have Ted call you?"**

**"Sure." We talked for a while longer. See, Sally has helped me with a few cases. When I met him, he solved a bunch of coded riddles for me. His gay tranny roommate got jealous of me and tried to kill me. Later, Sally saved my life from a gang of Slayers. Sally is a good guy. He cusses like a sailor, dresses like Madonna and can appreciate a good looking woman, but usually not what she is wearing. It happens.**

**Andy and me made our way to the office around one. There was a black SUV parked out front and I let out a sigh that made him quirk an eyebrow at me.**

**Inside, Lula and Connie had their ears pinned to Vinnie's office door. I mouthed, 'anything new?' and Connie handed me two files. I was flipping through them while Andy flopped onto the sofa. Lula raced to sit by him and Connie sat in her chair with a plop. I felt a tingle up my spine and felt Ranger brush his hand against my neck. He murmured in my ear, "Alley." And I followed him out after setting down my files on Andy's lap.**

**Outside, he slowly pressed me against the wall and brushed my mouth. "Learn anything new?" I breathed raggedly out.**

**"Someone tried to kill Donna Marino and Carla is missing. Again." I frowned. "Damn." He kissed me again softly with his hands on either side of my shoulders.**

**"You okay?" As in, you okay after someone trashed your apartment?**

**"Yeah, I'm good." I flashed him a quick grin as if to say, who me? I'm always good. I'm great in fact. So great, I'm about to become a gooey puddle. This time when he kissed me, I kissed back and it was heaven. He pulled back and showed me that 200 mega watt smile that kills me every time and softly kissed me one more time. "Dinner, tonight. I'll bring it." I nodded and tried to gather a coherent thought. Say something at least.**

**"Babe," He shook his head and chuckled. Hunh, Batman chuckles. Who would have thought?**


	7. Chapter 7

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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**

When I finally pulled myself together to go back inside, the three were chatting about the new Italian restaurant that built itself on the edge of the 'burg and the owners weren't 'burg. It wasn't getting much business. Andy threw in, as a non-'burg person, that this was ridiculous and Lula seconded it. Connie explained that the 'burg stays with its own.

**"More like its afraid to change. That's not healthy behavior." I grabbed the files off his lap and was about to flip through them when what he was saying caught my attention. "Live outside the 'burg. Maybe that didn't mean physically outside." "I mean, what's the norm here? Buy a house in the 'burg, settle down, marry the "right" person, have a bunch of kids and work hard for fifty years. That isn't the only way to live. Some people just don't want those things. Does it make them any less happy to not live that? No, it would make them unhappy to live that life." Andy settled back and the three of us watched him with surprise. Young grasshopper is very perceptive.**

**I didn't want an argument on my hands so I smiled and suggested lunch. There was a new Italian place that I was suddenly itching to try.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**The four of us sat in a booth in Maggio's Family Italian restaurant. Connie locked up early just to join us. We were sipping our drinks and munching on fabulous, fresh warm bread. Lula dipped her bread in olive oil and moaned faintly. "I love this!" We all agreed.**

**"Hello! Welcome to my place. Is there anything I can get you before I take your order?" We ordered quickly. Pasta Primavera, Alfredo with white sauce and mushrooms, lasagna and manicotti. The man, who looked to be in his fifties, smiled at us and I made small talk with him for a little while. Well, the place was empty. He turned out to be the owner and his daughter and wife owned the place with him. They were the chefs. He had been planning to hire more help but the place just wasn't pulling in any business, much to all their disappointment. They had put everything they had into making this place and now it was falling apart. He brought out our food and left us to enjoy it.**

**"God, this food is beyond belief." One of us moaned and it was quickly seconded. We were eating off each other's plates.**

**"Its not right that this place closes. This food is incredible." I said thoughtfully.**

**"But competition with this place could hurt Pino's and Rissotti's." Connie pointed out.**

**"It doesn't have to. I mean, Pino's is a pizza joint and Rissotti's is one of the nicest places in the city. Maggio's is kinda in the middle, you know? Maybe we could work with that," I pointed out.**

**"Yeah, like families and stuff."**

**"'Burg food without the work." Andy laughed, waving his fork in front of him. We brainstormed and ate the amazing food. It was nice spending time with friends. I watched Lula and Connie get into a tiff and Andy rolled his eyes at me. We were kind of family in a way. A very non-burg family. I laughed suddenly at the thought and when I had their attention, I suggested dessert. This could be better than sex.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**"Who have we got?" Andy asked once we got in the car.**

**"You know, if you keep this up, I'll have to pay you." He smiled and shrugged.**

**"This bounty hunter thing is so different from anything I have ever been exposed to. Spending time with you is very…enlightening." He was relaxed against his seat. He suddenly looked younger than he had since I met him.**

**"What was with this morning?" I asked gently. I was also vague so he could dodge the subject if he wanted to. He sighed.**

**"Derek needed his stuff back. He's moving today and tomorrow." He let out a brittle laugh. "I thought he wanted me back." I squeezed his hand and flipped open the first folder between us. He looked down at it in gratitude. He didn't like talking about this or thinking about it, I'm sure.**

**The first skip was a hooker from Dotter Street, it was two blocks from Stark. Her name was Deedra Jones. Arrested for hooking, no history of violence.**

**The second one was Anthony Moroni. I went to school with him. He had been a class clown who could be a bit of a bully if he got in a bad mood. He was a completely verbal bully and he used to be good at humiliating the weaker kids. I remember that when he made fun of Nicole one recess, I broke his nose. No one messed with my friends, I had told him. He now owned a bar off Hamilton. Motoring over there, I filled Andy in a bit on Tony Moroni. Not my favorite person, but he wasn't dangerous, just a bad drunk which was why he was arrested. And he was arrested by… guess who? Yup, Brookline.**

**"Why do you think a robbery detective is making all these small arrests?"**

**"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."**

**We entered the bar together. It was pretty empty. I walked over to the bartender and asked if Tony was in.**

**"Yeah, baby, he's in the back." He pointed with a dirty glass. I motioned for Andy to stay up front and walked back, checking the charge on my stun gun. I knock on his open door and leaned against the door frame. He grew from a taller, thin kid into a short, pudgy man. He looked up from the books and looked me over.**

**"What can I do for you, sugar?" He leered just a bit. After all, he's a business man, he can't go into full leer mood.**

**"Hello, my name is Stephanie Plum. You missed your court date," I could see I was losing him so what the hell? "and I'm going to haul your ass into jail. How does that sound?" He shoved past me and started running for the front. I caught him easily and pushed the stunner into his neck. He fell through the doorway of the bar.**

**"What the hell?" The bartender shouted.**

**"I'm a bail enforcement agent and he is a fugitive. Just doing my job, sir." Andy walked over and helped me lift him up.**

**"When do I get to do the fun stuff? Like zap them."**

**"Hmm… let me think about it."**

**"That's all I ask." He grunted and we got the guy in the back seat. I cuffed him to the door, just in case and we took him in. I pulled up to my usual precinct and had some big cops bring him in. I went to the front desk to fill out paperwork. While I was preoccupied, Brookline walked over and leaned her hip against the counter next to me.**

**"There weren't any prints at your apartment that were out of place, so either it was one of the three people that were there with you who did it or the guy wore gloves." She finally spoke. I gave her a cool look. Hey, don't look at me like that. She just casually accused two people that I would trust with my life of trashing my place. I was pretty sure that Morelli was above her suspicion.**

**"You've a problem with me, don't you?" I glared at her. She glared back. To give her credit, she wasn't playing dumb.**

**"No, not with you. I hate that you're a bounty hunter when you have the brains to do some good in this place. I'm envious that you, a lousy bounty hunter, have ten times the respect with these good ole boy cops then I do. I am a detective, but they treat me like I am a secretary. And I think that you are a bitch for you have two very different men and playing with both of them." She stopped, looking slightly flushed. I was shocked at the emotional force she had built up.**

**She looked at me, as if daring me to deny anything she just said. I just wasn't sure what to say.**

**"Look, Plum, I know you are working on the Carla Moore case and I'll keep you informed but stay out of my way, got it? And keep that man away from it." Before I could say anything, she turned and walked away. I grabbed the body slip from the bored desk officer and walked out to the car. Now I was wondering, which man? Just call that woman Russia, there was no understanding her.**

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**Dotter Street wasn't that bad. I wouldn't want to vacation there but, for a Jersey slum, it could have been worse. Deedra was pacing on a corner about half a block up from us. She was a soft skinned Latino with a mass of black curls around her face. She looked like a teenager. I checked her age in the file. She was barely twenty-one. I looked over at Andy, wondering what the plan should be. A lot of hookers really hated men. I think it just came with the territory after a while.**

**"I'm going to approach her alone. I think she would be suspicious of you."**

**"Think she will come willingly?"**

**"It is June and its starting to get pretty hot and Jersey is especially bad in the heat. I don't think she will resist a break from it."**

**"What about, umm…her pimp?" I shook my head.**

**"Lula said this street was pretty… independent. No pimps really on the lower part of Dotter." He nodded and I got out. She saw me coming almost immediately. She looked nervous for a moment then locked on the blank face that was unique for the 'ho.**

**"Honey, I don't do women."**

**"Me either." She looked me up and down.**

**"You aren't a cop." It wasn't a question.**

**"I'm Stephanie, I work with Vincent Plum. The bail bondsman. You missed your court date." She looked a little defiant.**

**"I was busy. I have work to do."**

**I nodded. "I get that, Deedra, right? But I need to get you rebonded. That's what I do." I shrugged. "Listen, it's hot out here. How about we get some ice cream or something. I'll call Vinnie and get him to get you bonded out and you can come back if you want."**

**She nodded. "Dairy Queen, right?"**

**I smiled. "I need a blizzard." She followed me. I nodded to Andy and reassured her that he was harmless. She got in, giving him a dirty look.**

**"You're not my type, girl." Those were the magic words, I guess.**

**The three of us sat around a table eating our ice cream. Deedra teased Andy about not being man enough to eat a blizzard like us. He looked down at his hot fudge sundae and shrugged digging in.**

**"You're just jealous that I can handle hot fudge and nice, cool, ice cream and you have to have to have that…" He pointed at her Blizzard with his red spoon. She started acting like the kid she was and Andy seemed to be a natural at bringing that out. Andy tilted his head and grew serious.**

**"What's your story, honey? How did you end up on the streets?" She stopped laughing and fell silent for a few moments.**

**"My daddy was a preacher." She let out a hollow laugh. "Isn't that something? The preacher's baby girl became a whore. My mom was from a strict Catholic family and they disapproved of her falling in love with a man outside the church." The girl shrugged. "Momma did it anyway. She married him and they had me and two boys. Life was so good when I was growing up. I took it for granted how good I had it. I got really rebellious when I hit thirteen or so. They just couldn't handle it after a while and to protect my brothers, they kicked me out." She went back to eating.**

**"Are you addicted to anything?" She studied us for a moment or two.**

**"No. I used to be hooked to crack but I finally kicked it. Meth is nasty shit and I avoided it. Heroine was my girl, Dawn's habit and it got her killed. Drugs are bad business." She shook her head. Smart girl. I flipped a chunk of cookie into Andy's dish. And then it was on.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**Andy hated leaving Deedra back on her corner. He offered her a place to stay if she ever needed it. She was too independent to accept it but she took down his address, just in case. It was five before I got back to my apartment and I jumped into the shower. I just needed the peace of a shower. When I got out, I pulled on a pair of flannel short-shorts and a black tank top and padded out to the living room.**

**Ranger was leaning against the couch and he looked up when I came out. His eyes became very dark and he straightened. Hmm… tempting the big bad wolf?**

**"Foods in the kitchen, babe." I led the way out there. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me while I dug through the Chinese takeout. He even got me some unhealthy stuff. I grinned and turned around. He was looking down at me like I was dinner. I leaned back a little to study him.**

**He was truly a beautiful man. His sexy chocolate brown eyes were studying my face, his slightly full lips quirked in a bit of a smile when my eyes fell on them, he had a bit of a goatee and a thin line of hair growing around his mouth. His dark mocha skin was flawless. He knew how attractive he was and he knew how to use it but it hadn't made him arrogant. I loved how he looked at me like I was the only woman on earth and when an attractive woman hit on him, he wasn't just acting uninterested. I didn't understand it, but I did enjoy it.**

**He let me study him. I smiled softly and kissed him. He seemed a little surprised. He kissed me hard back and lifted me up so I was sitting on the counter and he stood in between my legs. Once again, I was ready for more and he pulled back. He kissed me on the nose and grabbed one of the boxes behind me. I just stared at him, like well aren't you going to finish this? But he carried the box out of the room into the living room and I heard the TV turn on. Huh, what was that?**

**I grabbed my food and two beers and went into the living room and plopped down by him. Somehow we ended up sitting hip to hip, eating our takeout and he tuned in on the news. Trenton, New Jersey was uncharacteristically calm. How disappointing.**

**The last thing I remember was setting down my beer and leaning on Ranger, forgetting my annoyance. I woke up in my bed and I was delightfully warm and cozy. I wiggled in while I was still half asleep and I heard a groan. Oops.**

**Rolling to my other side, I faced my sexy Latino bedmate. "Hey, there."**

**"Hey yourself." He smiled sleepily and I decided I liked this look. His hair was loose and rather long and he was all soft and warm from sleep. He raised one arm and looked at the time. He groaned again and kissed the top of my head. "I got to go, babe." He rolled out of bed and got dressed slowly, knowing that I was watching. He grinned and winked to me.**

**"Where to?" I frowned and looked at the time. It was freaking 5:30.**

**"A…uh, redecorating job. I'll see you later." He kissed me again, twice and was gone before I really regained my senses.**


	8. Chapter 8

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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I slept for another four hours. A bad dream that was nagging my sleeping mind brought me from my deep sleep. With a groan, I swung up out of bed and padded to the bathroom. I looked into the mirror and half laughed, half groaned. That is not an easy combination, trust me. My body may not have gotten any Latin lovin' but my hair hadn't gotten the memo. It was sticking up in all directions and still curly. Very impressive. I tried to tame it back into a ponytail but it only listened a little. I sighed and grabbed the Navy SEALS hat that Ranger had given me a while back, jammed it on the curls and pulled the tail through. It worked.

**I did the morning thing pretty fast and was walking out the door a half an hour later. I debated on whether to call Andy or give him a day off while I waited for the elevator and he took the problem out of my hands. The elevator opened with him in it. He looked at my hair.**

**"Cute."**

**I looked his body up and down. He was just coming back from running.**

**"Sexy."**

**He grinned.**

**"I do that well." He looked a little uncertainly at me. "If you give me ten minutes, I'll ride with you."**

**I laughed. "Deal." He seemed a bit relieved. "Why does that surprise you?" I asked as we walked off the elevator. He shrugged.**

**"I wouldn't want to…cramp…your savvy bounty hunter style."**

**I laughed all the way to his door.**

**"You cramp my style? I think you're my lucky charm. I've never had this luck with work. I haven't rolled in garbage or had anything blow since I met you." He smiled. "It's been great."**

**I dropped onto his couch while he was in the shower. I was shocked to find that he had pretty much everything unpacked. It had been, what? Two days? Did he sleep? I heard him in the bedroom shuffling through clothes.**

**"Hey, don't you work?" It hadn't occurred to me that most people had a regular job.**

**"I did, yes." He answered from the bedroom.**

**"Don't you need to work now?" I frowned. How was he paying for everything with out worrying about a steady income?**

**"I'm…doing okay for now. I was pretty involved in my last job and I'm reevaluating life right now." He shrugged as he came out and curled up on the other end of the couch. "Watching you work is teaching me a lot." I arched an eyebrow his way.**

**"And what is it teaching you, young grasshopper?" He laughed.**

**"You help people, Steph. You don't just do your job, you go out of your way to save people."**

**I shrugged. No, I am not just being modest, although his praise seemed so honest and pure it made me blush a little. I really didn't know what he meant and I told him so. "I'm helping people? Sometimes, its just easier to be nice and help them with a problem."**

**He laughed and I glared at him. "What?"**

**"Isn't that the definition of helping someone? Wouldn't it just be easier to slap the cuffs on them and haul them out with force or even lie to them? Like yesterday with Deedra. You really cared about her. You could have promised her a hundred things and left her butt at the cop shop without giving her one thing but instead you bought her ice cream and listened to her story. I know that you were just as proud of her as I was. That's helping people. You made an impact in her life and in tons of other people's lives." He smiled at me softly. "You have made a difference in my life." He leaned over and tweaked my nose. It was so unexpected I jumped.**

**"Ah!" I shoved into him and we both toppled off the couch with me landing on him. I began tickling him and he laughed helplessly. Somehow, he uprooted me and rolled over on top of me and returned the tickling. I laughed and kicked and shouted a little. My phone began buzzing in my pocket. I signaled for a timeout and answered it. Andy stayed on top of me.**

**"Hello," I said a little breathlessly. Andy tickled my side and I burst out in giggles before I could swat him away and give him my best serious look, which under the circumstances, wasn't all that effective.**

**"Cupcake? What are you doing?"**

**"Getting tickled," I giggled and glared at Andy. He looked so innocent.**

**"Listen, I just called to let you know that I'm going to be out of town for a while. I'll see you when I get back."**

**"Oh, when do you leave?" I heard his sigh.**

**"I already have. I'll call you when I get home, cupcake."**

**"Okay, Joe. Bye." I frowned when he hung up. A little voice in the back of my mind whispered that Han Solo would never have left without telling Princess Leia. Hell, he wouldn't have left her period. Especially, if Darth Vader was involved.**

**"Uh oh. What's up?"**

**I shrugged it off. "Joe's going out of town." He rolled off me.**

**"You need to go see him before he leaves?"**

**I shook my head. "He's already gone."**

**"Hunh."**

*** * * * * * * ***

**We dropped by the office with the usual donuts. I plopped them down on the desk and handed Connie the two body slips. I sat on the couch by Lula while Andy pulled up one of the visitor chairs and straddled it. We ate donuts in silence while Connie wrote the check.**

**"Yo, girl. I need your help with a skip. He sounds like a mean motha." Her eyes widened a little and she shook her head, like what is the world coming to? "Bring Skippy here. We could use some man muscle for this one." I nodded seriously and Andy laughed. Connie handed me the check and a new file.**

**"Hey, I had a thought on Maggio's last night." Connie spoke up. "The 'burg usually eats where the cops eat, right? Maybe they could have some kind of special there for the cops, like in honor of them. Once people eat there, they will be hooked." I nodded and Andy suggested calling them. We left Connie on the phone. She was good on a phone.**

**Lula drove her baby and turned up the music. We were all moving in time with the music as we drove through the Mickey D's drive thru. Slurping our malts and munching fries and dancing to the music, we made our way to the west side of Trenton to the nicer, newer neighborhoods. On Coral Avenue, dead serious, they called it Coral, we pulled up to a swanky place. It was big and it just screamed money.**

**Andy shook his head, "Nouveau riche."**

**"Hunh. I guess the rich have problems, too."**

**"Scum can have money." I sighed and we unloaded. On the way up the steps, we heard a woman screaming, then a man shouting. Rushing in through the unlocked door, I saw a well-dressed, good looking man holding a battered woman up by her arm and slamming his fist into her face. We all reacted. Andy, who was in front of us, rushed the man and knocked into him, I ran to the woman to make sure she was alright and to get her out of there and Lula grabbed her gun and started shouting. The situation was under control pretty fast and the man was unconscious in Lula's trunk before any of us broke a sweat. Okay, we're pretty bad ass, too. I sent the woman to a battered woman's shelter and we were on our way. After dropping the creep off at the south precinct, I looked over my new file and snorted.**

**"Romeo Montague. You have be kidding me."**

**Andy looked over my shoulder from the backseat.**

**"An actor. Well, that's original." He lived in an apartment over a storefront in the downtown. He had been busted for possession and intent to sell drugs. And he turned out to be gay so having Andy with us turned out to be great. It just took a little bit of flirting and Romeo was good to go. I paused once we got him in the car and looked at the place next to where we were parked. It was a dojo. Not just any dojo, it was a Tae Kwon Do dojo. I wrote down the address and promised my child-self that I would return. I had taken to thinking of it that way. Weird, but it works well.**

**After we dropped off Mr. Montague at the downtown precinct, I suggested lunch. Over subs (don't get too excited, they were meatball subs from Quizno's, not exactly known for being healthy), I explained my list to Lula and Andy. I didn't tell them what all was on it, but I mentioned the Tae Kwon Do and seeing the dojo earlier.**

**"Girl, that's like fate. We have to go there." Lula's eyes were wide and she was nodding insistently. Andy was silent for a while and when I looked at him he was in deep thought. He saw me looking at him and smiled.**

**"I think I could use some Tae Kwon Do myself, want some company?"**

**"Oh, hell yes! I might benefit myself there, too. Not that I need to lose weight, but everyone can benefit from learning how to kick ass." We nodded.**

**"Why did you put 'learn Tae Kwon Do', though? Why not karate or kickboxing? Some popular movies came out about those when we were that age." I shook my head as Andy asked and I finished swallowing.**

**"Someone told me once that Diana Prince, Wonder Woman you know?, learned and used Tae Kwon Do, not Karate. They said that Karate was more about show and Tae Kwon Do was more about flexibility and strength. I guess that was the right thing to tell me as a kid and I was hooked for a long time. It broke my heart that Mom wouldn't let me take lessons."**

**"Let's go check this shit out."**

**Two hours later, we left the dojo with three memberships and we were happy. We had sat in on a class and I was seriously impressed by the teacher. The dojo was in good shape and it was just plain cool. My inner child did a happy dance.**


	9. Chapter 9

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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It had been a long day and I was glad just to come home and flop back on my bed. I fell into my thinking position fully clothed, SEALS hat and all. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes again the long shadows had turned into dim light of late twilight. I yawned and stretched. Then, I felt fine tingles up and down my spine. Hmm… Bat alert? I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and fixed my wacky hair.

**Exiting the bathroom, I walked into the living room and found Ranger stretched out on my couch. It actually stopped me in my tracks. I had never seen Ranger asleep. When he slept with me, he always seemed to know when I was waking and woke up before me. Yeah, when it comes to Ranger, I doubt nothing. He can do anything. He's like Superman, Wolverine and Luke Skywalker rolled together. Well, he is Batman, isn't he?**

**You know what I loved about Batman when I was a kid? Why he has always been my favorite? He wasn't born the perfect fighting machine like Superman and he wasn't given super powers like Spiderman. He was just an ordinary man who wanted to change the city he grew up in. He used the money that he was born with to do more good than all the other rich people around him and he really did save people. He inspired people to be better than they were.**

**I watched Ranger for a few minutes and realized that I had never seen him like this. He didn't exactly look younger, maybe he looked more peaceful but that didn't feel like it. He was actually a very peaceful man. He knew who he was and what he could do and he accepted that. I smiled and wandered into the kitchen. I didn't have much and he must have come awhile ago. He hadn't brought dinner. I called Pino's and ordered a pizza, keeping my voice pitched low.**

**`I sat at the table and pulled Brookline's file closer to me. Inside was my note. I took it out and reread through it for the first time today.**

**Learn Italian.**

**Visit Africa.**

**Skydive.**

**Kick Joe Morelli's butt.**

**Learn Tae Kwon Do.**

**Save people.**

**Know when you've met that guy.**

**(Like Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese,**

**Or Princess Leia and Han Solo,**

**Or Wonder Woman and Batman)**

**Fly.**

**Live outside the 'burg.**

**Never forget your friends.**

**I grabbed the notebook that had Carla's information in it and tore out a new sheet. I started to recopy it when I heard Ranger moving in the other room. I stood and turned around. He stood in front of me and looked me up and down. He looked at my head and gave me a wolf smile. I realized that I had put the SEALS hat back on. He stepped forward and tipped my chin up until I met his eyes. He looked into them for a long time and kissed me.**

**Someone knocked on the door. I ignored it and pressed against him. I moaned when he stepped back.**

**"Door, babe." He grinned at my cross look. I went to the door and greeted Angie. We talked for a few minutes. I gave her the money and she gave me the pizza.**

**"Thanks, Ange." As I walked back in, I looked up at Ranger. He had his back to me and he was reading something on the table. Hunh.**

**I set the pizza down and he looked up at me. "Kick Morelli's butt?"**

**"He was kind of a jerk back then." I gave him a tight smile.**

**He laughed and moved closer to me. "Han Solo and Princess Leia, huh?" He leaned me back against the counter. His lips brushed mine and my knees gave out. He caught me and set me up on the counter. It crossed my mind that if he could blow my mind like this just kissing me, I am in some serious trouble.**

**Just when the kissing was getting good, as his hands were finding their way into interesting places, the parking lot exploded with noise. We pulled apart and looked toward the window facing the parking lot. I was panting and my body was still vibrating. God, someone had horrible timing. He moved away and looked out.**

**"Um, babe." I moved closer and looked out.**

**"Damn," My car seemed to be the only fireball in the lot. Seconds later, there was pounding on my door.**

**I went to it and opened it to half the seniors on my floor. They were throwing questions at me pretty fast. The old man two doors down came out of his apartment and barked, "Young lady, your car just blew up." Thanks, thank you for that. I looked up and Andy was coming down the hall toward me. I saw him and smiled, but the seniors wouldn't let me move. Ranger walked through the crowd to talk to him while I reassured the residents of my floor.**

**The cops showed up in the middle of this mess and I was questioned a few times by a few different officers. On the edge of the crowd, I caught sight of Brookline. She was scrubbed clean of her make up, dressed in a hasty pair of jeans and a t-shirt and she was incredibly pale with shock. She reminded me of a child for an instant. She looked lost until she caught my eyes and her mask fell. She made her way to me, telling the seniors to go back to their apartments and that the show was over as she passed them. I nodded to her.**

**"I came to make sure you were okay." She seemed a bit embarrassed to admit it. I patiently smiled at her.**

**"This happens to me a lot."**

**"You can't be use to it." She looked at me like I was crazy.**

**"It sucks the same every time," I shrugged, "But it isn't as shocking as it once was." She reached out and squeezed my shoulder and made her way down the hall.**

**"Hey, Brookline!" She stopped and turned. "Thanks." She nodded and gave me a brief smile. She nodded to the guys as she walked out. Ranger looked at me and I shrugged. I have no idea what that was about.**


	10. Chapter 10

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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I smiled as I surfaced from a dream. It had been a nice dream. Ranger and I were walking somewhere on a beach somewhere holding hands. I think Brookline had been there, too. And Andy. And Joe, but Joe hadn't been there with me. I had walked with Ranger without worrying about Joe. Acting free with Ranger in that dream had felt so nice and it made me realize in the back of my mind that I was just tired of hiding him. He was a big part of who I was, wasn't he? Where would I be without him?

**I stretched my body as my mind became conscious. An arm tightened around my waist and I smiled. I think I could get used to waking up with him in my bed. I wiggled in and he let out a soft moan. I laughed and jumped out of bed and did the bathroom thing. Then I came back to the bedroom, he was still in bed and…he didn't have a shirt on. Huh…and I left that? Silly me.**

**I crawled back into bed and kissed him softly. He rolled us a bit so I was on my back and he was above me. He kissed my mouth and down my neck. It was probably a good thing that I was lying down.**

**Then, my phone started buzzing.**

**He groaned and rolled to the side. I cursed lightly while I dug for it. I finally found it in my jeans.**

**"'ello?" I mumbled into it.**

**"Yes, Stephanie Plum, please." The voice was clipped and unfamiliar.**

**"Speaking, who's this?" I sat up a bit.**

**"Ted Doyle. Sally told me to call you?" Ah, the Star Wars geek.**

**"Right, about Star Wars." Well, I should make sure, huh?**

**"Yes, could you meet me? I'm kind of busy right now." So was I.**

**"Uh, sure, when and where?" He sighed in frustration. I guess real people were tough to deal with.**

**"You know the Arby's on 2nd? Meet me there at noon." I almost expected him to say something like, come alone or bring $20 million in small bills.**

**"Got it." Then I heard a click on the other end. He freaking hung up on me. What the hell? I tossed the phone into the clothes pile and turned to Ranger. "Cranky nerds." I settled in on his chest and kissed him lazily.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**That hadn't lasted long. The next time, his phone rang and it was time to roll. He left and I rolled into the shower. I locked up my apartment and headed out into the lot and stopped dead in front of a blackened mark where my car had been. Right. How did I forget that?**

**I walked back in and jogged up the stairs to the third floor. I knocked on Andy's door and when he opened it, I smiled.**

**"I need your car." He laughed and opened the door wide enough to let me in. He was in his pj bottoms. I paused and studied him. Déjà vu, huh? He really was a good looking guy. A bit pale, but he had lean muscle and his big brown eyes and messy light brown hair made him look like a mischievous kid. I had been surprised when I met Derek. He was a very unattractive guy and he really didn't seem to have a personality. What was a great guy like Andy doing with a creep like him? A cheating creep?**

**"What?" Andy gave me a look and started walking into his room.**

**"Huh?" I was kind of afraid of what I had said out loud.**

**"That look." He spoke from the bedroom.**

**"What look?"**

**"Uh…like you were looking at something rotten."**

**"Oh, I was thinking about Derek." He stuck his head out and shot me a smile. "Just, um, wondering, what were you doing with a guy like him?" Andy came back in and plopped down on my lap. "Oof." I shoved at him until he slid over and rested his head on the other arm of the couch and his legs in my lap.**

**"I was pretty wrapped up in my job. He wasn't distracting and he treated me like a god," He looked a little sheepish and shrugged. "Sounds pretty bad now but it made sense at the time. He moved to Newark last year and we were drifting apart. That's why I decided to come here." I looked at Andy as he looked off in the distance.**

**"I've known you for the better part of a week and right now I feel like you are the brother my parents forgot to have." He grinned full on at my admission. "And I don't even know what you do for a living. You are so mysterious about it, I almost want to call you a spy." He laughed so hard he almost fell off the couch. When I glared at him, he tried to control it.**

**"You thought I was a spy?"**

**"It's crossed my mind."**

**He shook his head and grinned. He went back to relaxing.**

**"Well, sis," He winked up at me here. "I haven't talked about that because, compared to what you do, my old life was completely unimportant. It was self-absorbed and now that I look back on it, a complete waste of time." I looked at him, like go on. Then, I whacked his leg. Hey, I'm impatient, okay? He looked at me a little sadly. "When I'm with you and Lula, hell even Ranger, I just have to watch sometimes. You guys are amazing. You work with what most consider the scum of the earth and yet you are actually doing something that matters in the real world. Those investment bankers and stock brokers and big, bad CEO's are little ants playing with imaginary money. It doesn't matter to the world if one of those guys were to be crushed. There will always be another ant to move into its place. What kind of life is that?"**

**I stared at him. Wow, I love this guy.**

**"I was a corporate lawyer, sis. I worked my butt off for four years and what did I change? I worked in antitrust law. In the movie, it looks cool and dangerous but you know what? It is the most freaking boring law you can imagine. You just play with companies. Make one more powerful, destroy another. There is a ton of paperwork and as an associate, I never saw clients. I was a glorified paper boy. I moved stacks of paper from here to there. It's disgusting. It's pathetic. I haven't felt the need in the last week to talk about myself or about that mess. I'm too busy watching and learning."**

**I was a little shocked to hear this about Andy. I could see spy or hell, male model anyone? I could easily see therapist or youth director but corporate lawyer? Andy didn't seem power hungry in the least and I thought that was kind of what you had to be to even want to be a lawyer. Remember, I was briefly married to one.**

**"Wow." I blinked down at him. "How did that happen?" He smiled a little.**

**"I went to law school and I was bright. I was in the top of my class. See, I remember back then that I wanted to do something good for people, then the recruiters came and I just got caught up in it." He shrugged. He looked really uncomfortable.**

**"You know what we need?" I leaned over him. "Sticky buns."**

**"And a mocha latte?"**

**"You read my mind."**

**"Let's roll."**

*** * * * * * * ***

**I had to stop by the office to drop off my body slips so we got a dozen crèmes and dropped them in front of the girls. I stuck two sticky buns on top that we picked up with ours.**

**"Oh, girl! Guess what, Connie is a wizard on the phone." I raised my brows at Connie. She looked smug and she leaned back a little in her chair.**

**"Maggio's loves our idea. They will open up for the cops on Sunday."**

**"What if the cops don't come?" Andy asked, leaning in against the chair.**

**"Oh, they will. I called every precinct in town and got them all to confirm."**

**"Connie, that's amazing!"**

**"Uh huh, that chick has some bad skills."**

**"Well, I was thinking we should celebrate tonight at Maggio's. I'm dying for their food." That was saying something coming from Connie. She comes from "The Family" and she can eat at Rissotti's anytime she craves. Italian food is not something she has a short stock of. Naturally, none of us could disagree. Maggio's wasn't something to turn down lightly.**

**I looked at my watch and jumped to my feet. Holy Smokes, Batman. I was going to be late.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**"Are you sure there isn't any kind of Comic Con or Star Wars related thing coming near by or is near by?" Ted Doyle was a tall, pale guy with big glasses. He looked at me like I was the lowest living creature he had ever seen. You know, it's just not healthy for a guy to go that long without getting laid. It must mess with their heads.**

**"Once again, no, there is nothing like that here. New York City had one a few years ago but New Jersey doesn't get that kind of attention. It isn't exactly known for its intelligent people." He snorted and laughed at his own joke. Oh, no, he didn't. I was about to do something I knew I was going regret when, I felt Andy's hand on my leg.**

**"Well, thank you for your time, sir. If you think of anything that could help us, call Stephanie, okay?" Andy stood and shook Ted's hand. I followed suit and then, followed Andy out.**

**"I know this is a bad time to say this, but I'm dying to watch Star Wars." I glare at Andy and laugh at the innocent look on his face.**

**"C'mon, I recently came into ownership of just those movies."**

**On the way home, we loaded up on popcorn and ice cream and big bottles of soda and just about any other kind of junk food we could find. Then we spent the afternoon in my darkened living room with Andy and we both felt like kids again. Life was good.**


	11. Chapter 11

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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As the credits rolled for The Return of the Jedi, we cleaned up my living room, dumped it all in the kitchen and we ran to our separate bathrooms. Our celebration date was at 8 and we were cutting it damn close. I got beautiful in record time and pulled one of those famous little black dresses on and grabbed a slinky pair of black heels that would bring me darn close to Andy's height. Andy looked me over at the elevators and chuckled.

**"Don't you worry about a thing, honey, you look fabulous." I kissed his cheek and we jumped into the elevator.**

**For a Friday night, Maggio's was horribly empty. We walked in and Connie and Lula waved us over to the table. Mr. Maggio or, as he admonished us immediately to call him, Papa Maggio quickly took our orders and mixed our drinks. We chatted for a bit about this and that. I told them about my lack of case.**

**"Honestly, I'm just not sure where to go with this. I don't have any evidence, I don't have Carla and all I have is her word that Darth Vader kidnapped her."**

**"Someone did break into your apartment." Andy pointed out.**

**"Yeah, and blew up your Jeep. That always means something." Lula quipped. **

**Gee, thanks for reminding me.**

**"Don't forget Donna Marino. Someone almost killed her. I asked around for you, and I heard that she hasn't even regained consciousness yet." Connie supplied. We all looked up as Papa Maggio put our mouthwatering food in front of us. We dug in and didn't speak for a while. Well, this food was terrific, why spoil it with chatter?**

**After dessert and splitting the check, Andy and I made our way back to the apartment building. Andy frowned in the dark. He had been holding something back through most of dinner.**

**"What is it?" He turned his head and shrugged.**

**"Just, something that I thought was strange."**

**"Oh?"**

**"The same people have come to each mishap." He looked at me and saw that I was waiting for more details.**

**"Your break in, the car blowing up, Donna Marino's break in. The same people were at the scenes of each."**

**"Ranger and Joe weren't." I pointed out.**

**"I mean, the same cops…"**

**He broke off, thinking then flashed a smile my way. "Forget it, it's stupid."**

**I was about to tell him that it wasn't stupid when we pulled into the lot and I saw Ranger's car. He was standing outside of it and he was all business. Andy parked next to him. Yet another guy with good parking lot karma. Yeesh.**

**Watching Ranger as I got out, I knew it was serious. He looked me up and down and his eyes darkened. A step closer brought his body to nearly touching mine. He nuzzled my neck and whispered, "Looking good, babe." Then, in a lower tone, "Can we trust him?" I swallowed and thought about it. Then, I gave a small nod that Ranger felt more than saw. He pulled back and I looked over for Andy. He was still standing on the other side of the car. When he saw my look, he gave me one of his own, like damn. He walked around the car to lean against the door next to me and we looked at Ranger.**

**"Karl Moore hasn't been seen since Monday. For him that doesn't seem to be unusual. His neighbor started smelling something nasty coming from inside and called the police. Moore is dead and his place was ransacked."**

**"Oh, boy."**

**"Who were the detectives on the scene?"**

**"Brookline and her partner Mathews and a homicide named Donahue."**

**Andy and I glanced at each other. Hunh.**

**"And the smell was Moore?"**

**"No, rotten food. Everything in the fridge and freezer was tossed on the floor."**

**"Thanks for letting me know," I said with a frown, thinking about the case. This meant something right? Suddenly I remembered something Carla had said. Her captors had interrogated her about Karl's business. "Could you look into what Karl did for a living for me?" He nodded and gave me a quick kiss.**

**"Got to go, babe."**

**"Not staying tonight?" He flashed me a beautiful grin.**

**"Not tonight. I have some things to take care of."**

**"Be careful, Batman." He shook his head with that smile and got in his Porsche Turbo and rumbled into the night. I looked on in the sky in search of the Batlight and followed Andy in.**


	12. Chapter 12

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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I woke up Saturday morning to my phone ringing. I was Ranger-less in bed and that made me grouchy right off the bat. Who would have thought I could get addicted to that man? Hmm…okay, it isn't that tough. I swung my legs out of bed and grabbed the phone, mostly to shut it up but I might as well figure out what they want or they might call back.

"**Yo." I mumble into the phone. Maybe I am around Ranger too much…**

"**Oh, God! Stephanie, you have to help me!" Carla's voice shrieked out at me. I could hear some static on her end and the static started taking over the line.**

"**Carla! Can you hear me?"**

"**north side…office…help!…Death Star…watch ou…" The line started cutting out but not before I heard a scream. Then silence. I stared at the phone in my hand.**

**Well, shit. That's not good. On the Brightside, she's alive. But she might not be for long. I speed dialed Ranger and left a message telling him about the call and that I was going to the north side to see if I could find anything. When I hung up, my cell beeped and I jumped. I had a voice message. It was marked for 5:34 and it was from Ranger.**

"**Karl owned a bowling alley that was pretty shady but the cops had no proof of money laundering. He was probably smoking the books to keep it clean. He also had a safety deposit box at Trenton National taken out in the name of the company. Keep your head up, babe."**

**Hmm…something in the back of my mind made a connection but I was too busy moving around, getting ready, to stop and think about it. I ran up to Andy's apartment with one shoe on and pounded on his door. No answer. Again. No freaking answer. I was about to give up and call a cab when he came out of the stairwell. He had been running. Right, that's something those crazy, healthy people do. I think I have heard of it. He saw me and my face and the shoe in my hand.**

"**Give me five minutes."**

* * * * * * * *

**The north side of Trenton is mostly warehouses and nondescript office buildings, cuz you know, Jersey is running out of 'um. There were also slums in the lower north side but I had Andy bypass those in favor of the warehouse district. It would be more deserted and there were a lot of construction going on, building new office buildings. Yup, just stick a pipe in my mouth, I'm Sherlock. Right.**

**We were driving around in the vast, unending rows of warehouses, occasionally passing a row of office buildings and construction sites. I saw a construction sign and the light bulb went off. **

"**Oh, my God. Andy, turn here!" I shouted out excitedly and started pointing like crazy to a building that was on the left. He parked in front and I practically flew out of the car. **

"**Steph, wait!" I turned and watched Andy catch up with me. Something caught my eye on the street. A car was pulling in. Detective Mia Brookline got out and started running toward me. The last thing I saw before my world went black was her shocked look. **

* * * * * * * *

**I woke up in a sterile white room. The bright white seared my pounding head. Damn, how did people on the Death Star deal with hangovers? I groaned and tried to sit up and I found that I was already sitting up, leaned against a corner. Hunh. How did I miss that? My body jolted when my thoughts finally caught up with me. I was in a huge cage in the middle of what looked like the hangar section of the Death Star. I could see hallways leading off to other parts of the doomed, evil ship. It looked so much like it, I panicked. Looking around my cage, I saw Carla asleep and wrapped around her little girl. The toddler was beautiful with black curly hair and the Italian complexion. In the opposite corner from me, Andy was slumped against the wall. He had the beginnings of a black eye and his knuckles were a little ripped up. I guess he fought back, something I didn't get the chance to do.**

**I heard footsteps coming down the hall and two Storm troopers appeared, carrying the unconscious Brookline between them. I know I have a head injury but could I make this stuff up? **

**They opened the cage door, which was on the opposite wall from me and tossed her limp body in with us. I crawled to her and cradled her head in my lap. There were lines of drying blood running down from her hair line and falling down her chin and neck. I didn't know where her injuries were so I didn't touch her.**

"**She alive?" Andy's voice was thick.**

"**Yeah, her breathing is steady." As I spoke, Brookline's face started moving. She frowned, then grimaced. Her eyes twitched. She squeezed them shut. Her eyes opened slowly and Andy and I breathed a sigh of relief.**

"**Where am I?" She croaked. After clearing her throat, she tried to sit up. I helped her.**

"**The Death Star." She glared at me.**

"**How hard did you hit your head?"**

"**Not as hard as you." I gestured to her bloody scalp. She nodded and leaned into the remaining corner. She watched me for a while. "What?" Brookline smiled a bit.**

"**You just seem to attract trouble, don't you?" Her voice was soft but I almost got the feeling that she was mocking me.**

"**How so?" I played dumb.**

**She snorted and rolled her head a little. "You attracted this guy, didn't you?" I actually took offense by that.**

"**Excuse me? At least, I'm not the detective that slums just to up her quota."**

"**I do not!"**

"**Oh? What about Andy? Why did a robbery detective arrest someone for public drunkenness?"**

"**Because he was stripping in a park in front of my daughter."**

"**Oh." Both Andy and I said in unison. "I guess that explains Joyce."**

"**She was in front of Dawn's school."**

"**So, you arrested people that committed crimes in front of your little girl." Andy said softly. He looked at Brookline differently after that.**

"**I saw enough growing up. I just think somebody should be there to protect her and I'm her legal guardian. I take it seriously."**

"**You adopted her?" **

"**Yeah, she was my sister's baby and when my sister died, I took custody. She doesn't even remember her." She shook her head sadly. "My sister got into drugs really bad and I wasn't there to save her." **

**The three of us sat in silence for awhile.**

"**We gotta get outta here." Andy moaned. I crawled to the cell door to check it. It was locked, of course. They can't make it too easy. I checked on Brookline while I was there. She had dozed off and I desperately tried to remember what they said about concussions. it's a little foggy, but sleeping seems like a bad idea. I shook her shoulder gently. Her eyes opened very slowly and she looked confused for a few moments. **

"**Uh, thanks." She sat up a little straighter. I looked over at Andy. He nodded to indicate that he was okay. I glanced at the two in the other corner. Carla's little girl was laying in her mother's arms blinking. I moved closer. **

"**Hey, there." She blinked her big brown eyes up at me and held her arms up to me. I carefully extracted her from her mom and pulled her into my lap. "Hi, Gracie, right?" She just looked up at me silently. Carla's arms moved in her sleep, trying to find Gracie. She snapped up, suddenly awake. "My baby!"**

"**It's okay, Carla. I've got her." Gracie reached up and touched one of my curls. Her big brown eyes wide with wonder. She pulled on the end just enough to straighten it then she let it go and it sprang back into place. Her eyes followed it then she tried another one. When it sprang up, she giggled. She tried it again, this time yanking to see if force made a difference. "Ahh! Ouch!" That made her giggle, too. I handed the precious demon back to her sleepy mother. Carla looked around and teared up to see that she was still in the white room.**

"**I want out, I want out now." She whispered desperately. She started rocking back and forth. "I need out. I gotta get out. I can't take this." **

"**Steph," Brookline murmured. I looked at her and she nodded toward Carla. "We're in a cage. If she loses it, she could hurt herself or us." And I'm suppose to do-what?**

"**Carla, we're going to get out. It's going to be okay." She focused on my face. "We aren't on the Death Star, Carla. We are in Trenton, okay? We are going to get out of here."**

"**No, we're on the Death Star. We aren't going to ever get out. It's just going to keep going on forever and ever. It's never going to end, never…" As she rambled on and on, I looked at the other two. Andy watched Carla and Brookline was watching me.**

"**Carla, don't you know who Stephanie is?" Andy's voice broke through her muttering and she looked up hopefully. "Stephanie is really Princess Leia and she's going to fight the Storm troopers and everyone is going to make it out of here safely."**

"**Nooo…Princess Leia doesn't fight Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker does." Her voice was diminishing into a childlike one. Brookline and I shared glances. This wasn't good. **

"**Carla, I'm Luke. I'm Steph's brother, aren't I? And this time we are going to fight together. We'll get out of here, I promise." Carla just kept rocking, holding Gracie close to her, but she was silent.**

"**We have to figure this out." Andy spoke to me. "There has to be a way." I crawled closer so the three of us could talk.**

"**Okay, this has to have something to do with Karl's company." **

"**What?" Brookline was totally out of the loop, so I brought her up to date.**

"**Okay, so he was laundering money through the bowling alley. Obviously, he pissed someone off." Brookline concluded.**

"**Obviously," Andy replied sarcastically. **

"**Something bothers me about how the places were searched."**

"**Oh, detective?" This time the detective was sarcastic. I ignored her.**

"**They pulled the plate out in my apartment. Completely emptied all the cabinets. They even dug in Rex's cage."**

"**So they were thorough."**

"**They were looking for something small." Andy realized.**

"**Exactly!"**

"**What would be that small?" Andy frowned from his corner.**

"**A card, a bit of paper…" Brookline guessed.**

"**How about a key?" Carla's voice asked from the corner.**

"**A key?"**

"**Oh, my God." I fell back against the wall. "A key to a safety deposit box. Karl took out a safety deposit box for the bowling alley."**

**Just then Darth Vader strutted into the room. No joke. He stood there in all his shiny black bad ass glory. Hunh, I thought he would be taller.**


	13. Chapter 13

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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"**Well, well, well, Stephanie Plum. What do I owe the honor of your company?" The intergalactic baddie needed a voice distorter just to talk to little ole us. How cute. Andy muttered something about freedom and going to hell being a good start but I tuned him out. I had a plan. Sort of.**

"**I want triple the amount that you were paying Karl Moore monthly wired to an offshore account starting now." He laughed at my demand.**

"**Now, why, you little hussy, would I even consider doing that?"**

"**I have the key and I know what the box contains. If that gets into the wrong hands, let's say, oh the police commissioner?, you would lose everything, wouldn't you?"**

**There was silence in the room outside the cage.**

"**Now, why would I pay for what I can get for free?" He nodded to two of the four Storm troopers. They opened our cage, grabbed me roughly and hauled me out to my feet. Darth Vader stepped closer to me, tilting his head. It reminded me oddly of a lover coming closer. He slipped his gloves off, exposing smallish white hands and ran his hands down my body. His fingers slipped into my pockets and paused on my breasts, taking his time molesting me. After a long search, he didn't turn up a key.**

"**You stupid bitch. You just got caught in your lie!" He slapped his plastic and leather gloves against my cheek. I looked up into the creepy mask and laughed in his face.**

"**You really think I would keep it on me? It's safe and hidden in a place you won't find." He pointed at the cell and the two Storm troopers surged forward to take me. They threw me in the cell and I hit the floor hard. I heard the clank of their boots as the five people retreated.**

"**Shit, Steph," Andy crawled over to me and rolled me over. "You okay? What were you thinking?" I smiled up at Andy and rolled up so I was sitting.**

"**You get it?" I asked Brookline who had her back pressed against the bars next to the door. She nodded.**

"**What?" Andy looked between us.**

"**Hey, Carla," I waited until she looked at me. "Have you seen more than five people at a time?" She thought about it, then shook her head. I looked at Brookline and nodded. She grinned broadly. Then swung the door open.**

"**Hell, yes!" Andy whispered, pumping his fist. "So you don't have a clue?" He turned to me.**

"**I don't know shit."**

*** * * * * * * ***

**We snuck down the corridor and I whispered as we walked.**

"**According to the sign, this is a replica of the Death Star and it is going to become Jersey's museum commemorating Star Wars. I guess the biggest on the East Coast."**

"**Why didn't that guy know about it?"**

"**Dunno. Maybe it's really hush hush."**

"**Maybe that guy just needs to get out more."**

"**Shh!" Brookline turned back to us and glared. Yes, mom.**

**I looked back at Carla and Gracie to make sure they were doing okay. Carla just smiled back at me and Gracie hid her face in her mommy's neck. I hoped when we got out of this mess that Carla and Gracie would be okay. See, I said when, not if. I'm getting more positive. Hopefully, that's good.**

**I heard voices and touched Brookline's back. She nodded, she heard them too. There was an open door to the left that the voices seemed to be coming from. The four Storm troopers were inside without their helmets.**

**I stuffed my knuckles in my mouth and Andy looked like he was fighting the same urge. Who would have thought? Storm troopers taking a coffee break. The three of us listened in.**

"**You think he's taking this too far?"**

"**Man, we have just as much at stake."**

"**But killing them?" A third man spoke up.**

"**What do you want to do with them? Marry 'um?" Brookline looked seriously pissed, why I wasn't sure but I knew that it was dangerous to just stand here. I pointed at the floor and crouched down. I looked at the others and they nodded. The four of us, plus Gracie, got down on our knees. Andy gestured to his stomach and we all slid down on our stomachs. Then, we crawled/slithered as fast as we could out of the way. As she was going past, Carla bumped the doorframe.**

"**What was that?"**

"**Shit!"**

**We heard them rushing around the room and we all took off at a dead sprint racing down the corridor. Shit, shit, shit. Some how we stayed ahead of them while we ran down hallways and turned and raced up some more. Just when I thought we were goners, I saw an exit sign.**

"**C'mon!"**

**I reached for the handle and turned back to look down the hall. There stood Darth Vader. And a very un-Star Wars gun pointed dead at me.**

"**Well, you bitch, I guess I'll just have to kill you." I heard sobbing behind me coming from Carla. Andy and Brookline stood on either side of me, just behind me. I saw in my peripheral as they both raised their chins in defiance.**

"**Wanna bet?" Ranger stepped out of the shadows and pressed a gun to his head. The four men dressed as Storm troopers raised their guns.**

"**Five against one?" Darth Vader asked. Ranger nodded toward the door beside us and I opened the very wide door to a parking lot full of cops. Hmm…**


	14. Chapter 14

******Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.**

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**I slept in Sunday and woke up well past noon. I know I fell asleep with Ranger and I also know that I wasn't much company. It had been a long day, being kidnapped and then being questioned again and again by the cops. When we got home, I fell into bed, more than ready to pass out and I really didn't care where Batman decided to sleep. I was slightly hysterical and hiding it well. I didn't need that armor to be cracked just yet, especially in front of Ranger.**

**I heard him moving around behind my eyelids. The light shut off and I felt a cool wet wash cloth being draped over my eyes. My eyes started leaking warm tears. He curled up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I rolled over and buried my face in his chest. I fell asleep listening to his breath and feeling his hand stroking up and down my back.**

**I rolled out of bed and stretched, smiling at the memory. I took extra long in the shower, doing all the necessary things and most of the non-necessary ones. I got out and styled my hair with gel and this weird shimmer stuff. Moving to my closet, I picked out an outfit for tonight and donned flannel sleep pants and a black Ranger's tank.**

**Andy was sitting on my couch in pjs and when he saw me, he jumped up and hugged me tightly. I stepped back and raised an eyebrow.**

**"Luke and Leia, huh?"**

**He grinned and shrugged. "You have to admit, it was a cool idea." I nodded and laughed.**

**"So, what shall we do with our day?"**

**"I am dying to watch Star Wars."**

**"Ugh," I groaned and smacked him with a pillow. "I have had enough with that for a long time. How about a nice relaxing slasher flick?"**

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**"So, why did they do it?" Connie asked as we sat around our usual table at Maggio's. We were surrounded by cops and curious 'burg people. Five of Trenton's cops were missing and it wasn't really a mystery where they were.**

**"They were dirty cops, on the take. They didn't want their little operation to be discovered. Not only would it destroy their lives, it would cost them millions."**

**"Hunh," Lula looked a little uncomfortable being around all the cops. "Dirty cops are the worst." We all nodded, thinking about it.**

**"Brookline actually figured it all out when we were escaping." Andy supplied. "She recognized their voices and she figured out who was behind it all from that."**

**"She knew who Darth Vader was?" Connie looked surprised. She hadn't given the cop that much credit.**

**"It was her partner, Mathews. She knew he had been spending a lot of time with those four uniforms."**

**"How did Barbie know that?"**

**"Ahh…because of all those random arrests!" Connie realized.**

**"Exactly. She saw Mathews at the precinct on his off hours and she was suspicious."**

**"Which was why she went to all the crime scenes with him." Andy filled in. He was pretty proud that he had been right about that little detail…even though he had cast blame on the wrong detective. "She didn't trust him."**

**"So, how does the Star Wars shit come in to this?"**

**"Mathews' brother was in charge of finding actors for the reenactment. It was perfect because the guy they found for Vader was only a few inches taller than Mathews. They needed to be able to disguise who they were when they had Carla."**

**"They also knew that after years of abuse, Carla wasn't really stable and they hoped it would break her. Mathews was sure that Karl had told his wife everything, when in actuality she didn't know anything." Andy broke in.**

**"So what was in the box?"**

**"Black mail material. Karl wasn't that bright but he knew he needed to get something for protection against them. But he got greedy and that got him killed."**

**"The key was lost?"**

**"Oh, no," I laughed. "Mathews actually had it the whole time and he never realized it. The key was on a chain around Gracie's neck."**

**"No shit?" Lula and Connie laughed along.**

**"Now I guess the real mystery is, why have the biggest Star Wars museum on the East coast in Trenton, New Jersey?" I mused.**

**"Oh, I got that. George Lucas has a soft spot for Jersey. He conceived the Star Wars idea here." How Andy knew this is beyond me.**

**"Oh, right...he got it while he was stoned or something. Or was it while he was getting laid?"**

**"I'm going for getting stoned. He was the original Star Wars geek, after all."**

**"Incoming." Andy murmured. I looked up to see Detective Mia Brookline walking toward us holding a little girl's hand. My breath caught. The little girl was around eight and she looked exactly like Nicole had at that age. Her big blue eyes were more joyful and there was a touch of pink on her cheeks but she easily could have been Nicole's sister. I looked up at Brookline, fighting sudden tears.**

**"Stephanie, this is my niece Dawn Michelle." She looked down at the little girl and shook her head. "You always had made an impression on Gaby." I stared at Brookline, taking in the now blue eyes and her light brown hair with hints of red. "Contacts. I didn't want you to recognize me. My hair naturally darkened later and I just added a little red dye." She looked around the table and seemed a little awkward.**

**"Come on, pull up a chair. There's plenty of room." She looked gratefully at Andy and Dawn slid onto the bench with Connie and Lula while her adopted mother grabbed a chair.**

**"What happened after you left? I thought you were dead." I spoke softly. I had been waiting twenty years to find out what happened to my best friend, I wanted to know now.**

**"We moved, constantly. Whenever someone suspected Aaron of hurting us, we packed up and moved. The abuse became unbearable when I was fourteen. It all seemed to be on me and Gaby had become Mom and Aaron's favorite. I was sure she would be safe and I really didn't trust her to keep my secret, so I ran away and never looked back. I went to Boston and a nice couple, the Brookline's, took me in.**

**"They lived about an hour out of town on some old farmland. I had never lived in the country and I loved it. I loved the quiet and how no one was around to stare at me. I never told them about my past and they accepted it, mostly. I think it killed Mrs. Brookline a little that I didn't trust her with it but I liked that they didn't look at me like I was a freak or worse, pity me. They gave me the best of everything, the best schools, clothes, food. I was completely happy. They died in a car accident when I was in my junior year at Smith.**

**"I finally tracked my real family down when I was in law school. Momma had died and Aaron was in jail. Gaby was the only one left. When I went to her, she was dying. Her body was so weak from the drugs and Hepatitis C was killing her. She had contracted it not long after having Dawn and it killed her after a year. Her last wish was that I raise Dawn. I would never have denied it but I had no idea how to take care of a toddler.**

**"I dropped out of law school and went to the police academy. I knew with my college education that I would probably make detective rapidly. I had a degree in criminology." She stopped and stared at the table. Dawn took her hand and they shared a look.**

**"Why did you come back to Trenton?" I asked to encourage her.**

**"To see you. I hadn't planned on staying or even talking to you but I felt like I had to see you. Make sure you were okay and all that." She looked around the table. "I had expected to find a successful business woman or a happy 'burg mother. Instead, I found a bounty hunter with either amazing luck or terrible luck, I'm still not sure which, who attracted trouble and crazy people by droves. Just when I arrive in town, your apartment gets trashed, your car is bombed and you land in the middle of a dirty cop ring. And you don't think anything of it!" She laughed, looking at me. "You're crazy, girl. But you seem to thrive crazy, so what can I say?"**

*** * * * * * * ***

**We enjoyed the party for a few more hours. I caught Nicole or Mia up on my life and she joined Lula and Connie in a game of trying to set Andy up with a few unsuspecting officers. Somehow, I managed to get her alone. I still had some questions for her and I needed to be alone to do it. She must have sensed this, it had to be the cop in her, because when we were alone, she turned to me and told me to talk.**

**"What do you have against Ranger? You told me a couple of times to get away from him." She sighed.**

**"Steph, I'm trying to protect you here. Ranger is dangerous." She spoke simply. I raised an eyebrow at her to let her know that, that wasn't even close to being enough. "He screams illegal. He has a freaking vacant lot listed as an address, for chrissakes."**

**"I thought he changed that to the river address."**

**"I wouldn't be surprised. He has an unending stream of insanely nice cars and no known source of money besides being a bounty hunter. I'm sorry but bounty hunting won't make you rich unless you're Dog the Bounty Hunter, even as good as he is. Steph, something is up with that man and I don't like that you are in the middle of it."**

**"Mia," I touched her shoulder to stop her. "He is a very private person. You're just going to have to trust me that I know what I'm doing and that I know he is clean." She looked suspicious. "He keeps me safe and I trust him with my life." She just nodded. She didn't really have any other choice, now did she? "Now, I noticed that you don't have any real plans to leave Trenton. What's keeping you here?"**

**"I have to save your butt, don't I?" We laughed.**

**"Why else?"**

**"Not following."**

**"You were pissed at me before I got into trouble and I think I know why."**

**"Really Sherlock? You need to give up this detective stuff, its really annoying."**

**"How long have you liked him?" She had been acting all smug about her clever joke, but her face changed instantly to shock. She started to look trapped.**

**"Jesus, Steph, what are you talking about?"**

**"You like Morelli."**

**"Bullshit."**

**"I saw how you were looking at him and I also saw that you never pursued him."**

**"Because he's your freaking boyfriend."**

**"How long have you liked him?" She sighed and rubbed her face with her hand.**

**"I met him before he went undercover. Actually, Dawn met him first. Her basketball got away from her at the park and he snagged it for her. They were playing basketball when I came to find her." She smiled sadly. "He was so good with her. Most guys are turned off by a chick with a kid but it didn't affect him one bit. He seemed unattached. After he got back from undercover, I got to know him. I didn't know he had a girlfriend until I saw you guys together and I knew that I could never steal a guy from you, after all you meant to me when we were kids." I must have looked surprised because she rushed to reassure me that he hadn't cheated on me and that he had never actually said he was single. She misunderstood the situation. I hugged her and reassured her that I had no hard feelings and led her back to the party.**

**Oddly enough the first person I saw was Joe. He was laughing with a few of the other guys, looking like he had just gotten out of the shower. He must have just gotten back. I walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss.**

**"Joe, I need to talk to you really quick." Some of the guys teased Joe. I flashed them a smile as I grabbed his hand. "Sorry, boys."**

**"What's up, cupcake?" He said with a relaxed smile. Suddenly, I was swamped with nerves, after all, I didn't want to lose Joe as a friend.**

**"I think…" I stopped. I just couldn't do this.**

**"Really? Incredible." I smacked him with a laugh and suddenly found my courage.**

**"Joe, I don't think we're good together. I love being your friend and I don't want to lose that but we want different things." I sighed and chanced a look at his face, he looked surprised but not angry. Good sign. "You want the 'burg life. A wife and kids and commitment. You think that the only kind of commitment comes with a ring, but I've learned the hard way that if you don't have that bond, the ring doesn't mean a thing. We don't have that bond and it isn't one you can create."**

**"Are you just mad that I didn't tell you before I left town?" He burst out.**

**"No, Joe, I'm not mad. That just made me realize this."**

**"You aren't mad." Joe looked down at me and I could see that it was clicking. "You aren't breaking up with me out of anger." We both realized that this was a first for us and that made it seem very final.**

**"I will always love you, Joe, always. You were my first so many times and a big part of my past but I can't love you the way you need and you can't be what I need." He wrapped his arms around me and we stood in silence. It wasn't strange that our relationship went out with a whisper instead of a bang. It was inevitable.**

**"I love you, cupcake, but I understand this, too." We pulled apart and rested in the quiet before we returned to the party. I smiled ruefully. This hiding from the party was becoming a bad habit.**

**"I guess Bob and I are alone now."**

**"Someone is closer than you think."**

**"What are you, a fortune cookie?"**

*** * * * * * * ***

**At some point, Andy leaned close and whispered in my ear. "I know what I want to do when I grow up." I laughed and turned to him.**

**"Oh, yeah?"**

**"Yep…I'm going to be a lawyer."**

**"But you already are a lawyer."**

**"I'm going to be a special kind of lawyer."**

**"Oh?"**

**"A street lawyer. A sort of advocate for the poor and homeless. I was thinking I could start some youth centers and maybe help some people before they get to your level."**

**"They have a place like that in Trenton?"**

**"Not yet. I can get funding through the state and open my own practice though."**

**"Andy, that's amazing!" He smiled and held a finger to his lips. I nodded and we kept it our little secret.**

**The night was a success for Maggio's. In fact, it was so busy that night, Papa Maggio would come in and recruit people to be servers on the spot. We had cops acting as food servers and a few 'burg wives went and helped the Maggio women in the kitchen. It was the perfect thing to make Maggio's part of the 'burg and Connie was very proud of herself.**

**Around midnight, Andy and I made our escape. We walked out of the restaurant laughing, arm in arm. I stopped when I felt that tingle that meant Ranger was close. He was leaning against his car, next to Andy's car. Andy looked at me.**

**"I'll see you later." I kissed his cheek and Ranger and I watched him drive away. I turned to Ranger. "We need to talk." He pushed off the passenger side door and opened it for me.**

**"Let's go."**


	15. Chapter 15

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Disclaimer: I am not Janet Evanovich and I am not making money off this story. I own the OCs and the plot.

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He followed me into my apartment and waited for me to grab a couple of beers. We settled into the couch and he watched me. I thought about how to say what I needed to say.

**"I broke up with Joe tonight." I admitted and looked up at him. He raised an eyebrow and waited for me to go on. "It wasn't because of something he did or something I did. I broke up with him because I realized that he wasn't that guy, and he never could be. I can't be the woman he needs. I finally understand that there is nothing wrong with that. "I can't be 'burg and I guess I have never really tried to be. I can't be happy like that and there are other ways to live. I looked him in the eye when I said the next part. "I finally figured out that love doesn't have to come with a ring and having that ring doesn't define the relationship or commit the people in it." He closed his eyes. He had told me once that his love didn't come with a ring. I hoped like hell that I wasn't misunderstanding what this meant.**

**"Ranger," I swallowed and hoped my next words wouldn't sound as corny out loud as they did in my head. "You are that guy for me. You are the Han Solo to my Princess Leia. You are my Kyle Reese. And you will always be my Batman." I stopped, relieved to get it out. It had felt right saying those words. Then, in the middle of my mental pat on the back, it hit me what I had just told Ranger, and he was still freaking silent. Well, hell.**

**I turned away and took a sip of my beer. He took it out of my hand and put it on the coffee table. I looked up at him and my throat tightened. His eyes were dark and he was totally serious. He reached up and touched the back of my neck. I opened my mouth to speak, to say something, anything. The way he was looking at me was almost unbearable. I wanted him to look away. And I also wanted him to look at me like that forever.**

**He slowly leaned in and met my lips. My eyes fluttered closed and suddenly I started losing myself, but that was all right, because I trusted him to return me.**

*** * * * * * * ***

**The next morning I woke up decidedly happy. Not only did I have Ranger in my bed, I had an asleep Ranger in my bed. I turned my head slightly to the clock and smiled when I saw that it was 10:32. I guess I'm not the only one who is affected by our night activities. I leaned back into him and savored how good this felt. But I had to pee. Damn. I waited as long as I could then I tried to slip out from under his arm without waking him. He tugged me back and mumbled, "stay." I decided I had to try a new tactic. I looked up at his sleeping face. His lips were slightly parted. I kissed up his neck then his chin and finally his lips. He started responding and opened his eyes. I pulled back and grinned. With one last kiss, I jumped out of bed and did the bathroom thing.**

**When I came out, he wasn't in bed anymore. Suddenly, I remembered our one night and the morning after when he sent me back to Morelli. He couldn't do that this time. What if I had trapped him? Shit. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes.**

**"Morning, babe." He walked into the bedroom from the kitchen and tilted my head up. He kissed me softly and then led me into the kitchen. Bagels sat in a bag on the table.**

**"How did you-?" Right, he's Batman. Plus, he has his Merry Men.**

**"Andy thought we would need the fuel."**

**"Jeesh."**

**He chuckled. "He's a good friend, babe."**

**"You approve?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as I lead the way to the couch.**

**"He cares about you and that is never bad thing for a friend." He shrugged. We sat on the couch, with my bare legs resting in his lap. We ate in silence, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on my legs. My recopied list was sitting on the coffee table. I looked at it for a long time before I reached out and took it.**

_**Learn Italian.**_

_**Visit Africa.**_

_**Skydive.**_

_**Kick Joe Morelli's butt.**_

_**Learn Tae Kwon Do.**_

_**Save people.**_

_**Know when you've met that guy. **_

_**Fly.**_

_**Live outside the 'burg.**_

_**Never forget your friends.**_

**I slid my pen through _Live outside the 'burg_. That was just me. I thought about what Andy had said about my job and how I amazed him. I crossed out _Save people_ with a smile. I crossed off _Learn Tae Kwon Do_. Hey, I'm working on it, right? And I crossed off _Know when you've met that guy_ without hesitation. Ranger leaned over and kissed me. It took me long enough, huh?**


End file.
